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California  Library  Service 


ECONOMICAL  EQUAL  COMPLETE 


Counties  that  are  darkened  have  established  county  free  libraries. 

This  is  a  reproduction  of  the  map  exhibited  in  the  American  Library 
Association  section,  Palace  of  Education,  Panama- Pacific  International  Expo- 
sition, San  Francisco,  1915.  Map  at  Exposition  measures  25  feet  high  and 
22  feet  wide. 


California   State  Printing  Office 
Sacramento,  1915 


COMPILED  BY  THE  CALIFORNIA  STATE  LIBRARY 

to  explain  California  Library  Service  in  connection  with  the  map  exhibited  in  the 
American  Library  Association  section,  Palace  of  Education,  Panama-Pacific  Inter- 
national Exposition,  San  Francisco,  1915 ;  and  also  in  connection  with  the  moving 
picture  film  shown  at  both  the  Panama-Pacific  International  Exposition  in  San 
Francisco,  California,  and  in  San  Diego,  at  the  rooms  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
no  satisfactory  arrangement  having  been  possible  for  showing  it  at  the  Exposition 
there. 

Map   and   all   statistics   represent   conditions   January   1,    1915    (except   A'^entui'a 
County  Free  Library  which  was  added  April,  1915). 


C2/I3 
CONTENTS.  19/3- 


I'lau  Mud  Promise — Introductory  Note 

(Jiiliforaia's  Library  Needs — in  connection  with 

1.  The   state's   products,   industries,   etc 5 

2.  The    individual    inquirer 5 

3.  The  clubs  of  various  sorts 5 

4.  The  schools  and  universities 5 

5.  The  university  extension  and  correspondence  course  student G 

G.  The   county  jails   and   county   hospitals 6 

7.  The  county  farm  adviser 6 

8.  The  County   Law   Library G 

0.  The   County   Teachers   Library G 

10.  The   small   free   library,    the   larger   free   public   library   and   the   district 

library    G 

11.  The   professional   California   librarian 7 

12.  The  California   State  Library 7 

California's   Solution — by  means  of 

1.  The  County   Free  Library 7 

2.  The  California  State  Library  School 9 

3.  The  California  Librai-y  Association  and  County  Librarians'  Convention 9 

4.  The    State    Library    quarterly    publication — News    Notes    of    California 

Libraries 9 

Summary — Economical,  Equal  and  Complete 10 

Some  of  California's  Library  Service  in  Figures  and  in  Pictures  : 

Totals  and  Growth  in  One  Sort  of  Library  Service 10 

Alameda    County 10 

Butte  County  Free  Library 11 

Contra  Costa  County  Free  Library 11 

Fresno  County  Free  Library 12 

Glenn  County  Free  Library 12 

Humboldt   County   Free   Library 13 

Imperial   County   Free   Library : 13 

Inyo  County  Free  Library 14 

Kern   County   Free   Library 1.5 

Kings  County  Free  Library ^ 16 

Los  Angeles  County  Free  Library IG 

-Los  Angeles  Public  Library 17 

Madera   County   Free   Library 18 

Merced   County    Free    Library 19 

Monterey  County  Free  Library 20 

Monterey    Public    Library 20 

Pacific  Grove  Public  Library 20 

Riverside  County  Free  Library 20 

Sacramento  County  Free  Library 20 

San  Bernardino  County  Free  Library 21 

San   Diego    County    Free    Library 22 

San   Francisco  Mechanics-Mercantile   Library 22 

San  Joaquin  County  Free  Library 22 

San  Mateo  County  Free  Library 22 

Santa  Barbara   County   Free   Library 22 

Santa  Clara  County  Free  Library 24 

Solano  County  Free  Library 24 

Stanislaus  County  Free  Library 25 

Tulare  County  Free  Library 25 

Ventura    County    Free    Library 25 

Yolo  County  I'ree  Library 26 

California    State    Library 27 


M572540 


CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY  SERVICE 

ECONOMICAL— EQUAL— COMPLETE. 


PLAN    AND    PROMISE— INTRODUC- 
TORY   NOTE. 

Library  service  in  California  has  been 
called  the  most  socialized  thing  in  the 
state.  In  plan,  there  is  no  doubt,  it 
reaches  the  highest  point  possible  and 
the  progress  toward  the  realization  of  the 
plan  is  the  most  inspiring  achievement  on 
record  in  all  library  development. 

CALIFORNIA'S    NEEDS— IN    CON- 
NECTION WITH 

1.  The  State  and  Its  Products. 

From  the  most  southern  counties — Im- 
perial, the  youngest  county,  with  its  can- 
taloup and  cotton  fields,  its  hogs  and 
poultry,  and  San  Diego  on  the  coast,  with 
a  most  equable  climate,  abounding  in 
fruits  and  fish  and  with  the  finest  tour- 
maline deposits  in  the  United  States, 
up  to  Modoc,  Siskiyou  and  Del  Norte 
counties  on  the  extreme  north,  with  their 
vast  timber  areas,  dairying  and  beginnings 
of  agriculture  and  horticulture — there 
is  nearly  every  interest  possible.  There 
are  rough  and  remote  mining  and  lumber- 
ing communities,  vast  oil  fields,  large 
stretches  of  country  given  over  to  cattle 
and  sheep  for  grazing  purposes,  fields  of 
nearly  every  sort  of  grain,  tracts  planted 
to  all  kinds  of  nuts,  orchards  of  every 
description,  berry  and  vegetable  fields — in 
fact  in  some  parts  of  the  state  the  climate 
and  land  are  right  for  everything  that  has 
yet  been  tried. 

Manufactures  of  all  sorts  are  de- 
veloping lumber  and  timber  products, 
slaughtering  and  meat  packing,  canning 
and  presenting,  foundry  and  machine  shop 
products,  flourmill  and  gristmill  products, 
printing  and  publishing,  cars  and  gen- 
eral shop  construction  and  repairs  by 
steam  railroad  companies,  petroleum  re- 
fining, butter,  cheese,  and  condensed  milk, 
leather,  tanned,  curried  and  finished,  malt 
liquors,  wines,  gas  illuminating  and  heat- 
ing, cement,  automobiles,  engines  and 
power  and  fuel. 

2.  The  Individual  Inquirer. 

In  a  state  with  such  varied  products 


and  manufactures,  the  resident  may  need 
to  investigate  any  subject  at  any  time. 
Books  or  answers  to  questions  must  be 
within  easy  and  quick  reach  of  an  indi- 
vidual, no  matter  where  he  may  happen 
to  be  located,  and  they  must  be  free  of 
all  expense.  This  is  being  accomplished 
in  the  California  library  service. 

3.  The  Clubs  of  Various  Sorts. 

There  are  the  civic  improvement  clubs, 
the  charter  framing  committees,  the  park 
and  city  planning  committees,  the  debat- 
ing societies,  the  study  clubs  taking  up 
such  subjects  as  drama,  literature,  his- 
tory, art,  music,  travel  in  various  coun- 
tries and  domestic  science.  All  of  these 
groups  need  a  great  deal  on  the  subject 
that  is  under  consideration  and  the  ma- 
terial needed  should  be  availaole  on  re- 
quest and  with  -■-  expense  to  the  bor- 
rower, because  such  committees  and  clubs 
seldom  have  any  fund  with  which  to  buy 
books  or  even  pay  transportation  on  books 
borrowed.  There  is  the  added  fact  that 
it  would  be  extravagant  to  buy  such  ma- 
terial, as  it  is  simply  a  temporary  need. 
These  difficulties  are  met  by  the  Cali- 
fornia   library    service. 

4.  The  Schools  and   Universities. 

The  schools — elementary  and  high— - 
need  the  standard  reference  books,  sup- 
plementary readers  and  material  for  such 
occasions  as  debates,  theses,  amateur 
plays,  musical  evenings,  illustrated  lec- 
tures. School  funds  for  library  purposes 
are  in  no  case  adequate.  The  average 
country  school  has  less  than  $50  a  year 
to  spend  for  new  books.  It  needs  sev- 
eral hundred  books.  It  is  not  possible 
for  a  school  to  borrow  to  meet  all  of  its 
needs,  and  transportation  must  be  paid 
on  those  that  can  be  borrowed.  There 
is  no  money  available  to  pay  transporta- 
tion charges.  These  problems  are  all 
solved  by  the  California  library  service. 

The  universities  start  the  student's  in- 
terest and  investigation  along  some  line 
or  lines.  It  is  merely  a  start  and  after 
leaving  the  university  the  students  are 
scattered   about  the  country,  often  being 


6 


CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY  SERVICE. 


located  in  very  remote  communities.  How 
can  they  continue  their  education  if  books 
and  other  such  material  are  not  easily 
and  freely  available?  Often  they  are  not 
receiving,  in  their  chosen  profession,  or 
business,  more  than  salary  enough  to 
cover  living  expenses.  They  can  not  af- 
ford to  pay  transportation  on  books  bor- 
rowed, and  often  sent  to  them  from  a  dis- 
tance. The  small  town  library — -if  there 
is  one — is  not  at  all  likely  to  have  the 
books  needed.  It  is  certainly  an  extrava- 
gant use  of  the  state's  money  to  support 
a  university  to  start  the  education  of  its 
young  people  and  not  have  a  free  and 
simple  method  for  the  continuance  of 
that  education.  This  is  satisfactorily 
met  in  the  California  library  service. 

5.  The    University  Extension  and   Corre- 

spondence Course  Student. 
Those  who  enroll  as  students  in  the 
University  Extension  Department,  or  are 
taking  correspondence  courses,  are  greatly 
handicapped  if  they  can  not  get  all  the 
printed  material  recommended  for  the 
subjects.  Often  it  is  highly  specialized 
material  that  would  not  be  needed  again 
either  by  the  student  or  by  a  small  local 
library — if  there  happened  to  be  such  an 
institution  near.  So  it  would  be  a  waste 
of  money  for  either  the  student  or  the 
local  library  to  purchase  it — even  if  there 
were  funds  ready  for  such  purchases, 
which  is  usually  not  the  case.  It  is  dif- 
ficult enough  to  find  the  time  to  give 
to  the  work  of  the  extension  course  with- 
out having  the  added  burden  of  expense 
and  trouble  in  getting  books  needed  for 
the  course.  This  is  another  big  problem 
in  California  which  is  being  met  by  the 
state's   plan   of   library   service. 

6.  The    County    Jails    and    County    Hos- 

pitals. 
The  service  to  jails,  prisons,  hospitals 
and  such  groups  of  people  needing  books 
of  every  sort  carefully  chosen  to  suit  their 
wants  has  been  a  problem  that  states  and 
counties  have  been  conscious  of  for  many 
years.  To  interpret  these  needs  an  es- 
pecially efficient  librarian  must  either  be 
in  charge  of  a  branch  library  in  the  in- 
stitution or  such  a  person  must  be  in  close 
touch  with  the  inmates.  This  problem  is 
solved   in   the   California   library   service. 

7.  The  County  Farm  Adviser. 

Several     counties     have     appointed     a 
county    farm    adviser    and    as    he    visits 


various  parts  of  the  county  and  discusses 
points  with  farmers,  books  and  pamphlets 
are  often  mentioned  as  authorities  on  cer- 
tain subjects  under  discussion.  The 
farmer  wants  to  read  these  and  they 
should  be  available  merely  on  request.  It 
should  not  be  necessary  to  take  the  time 
even  to  write  a  letter  and  it  certainly 
should  not  be  necessary  for  him  to  buy  the 
material  or  even  pay  transportation  on 
it.  This  need  is  very  successfully  met 
in  California  library  service. 

8.  The  County  Law  Library. 

In  the  smaller  counties  where  under  the 
law  it  is  possible  to  raise  only  a  small 
amount  for  the  support  of  the  county 
law  library,  there  should  be  some  way 
to  co-operate  with  a  larger  institution 
and  in  that  way  make  the  most  of  the 
small  fund  and  in  addition  get  easily  the 
supplementary  law  material  which  the 
local  law  library  can  not  afford  to  buy. 
Complete  and  free  service  for  the  law 
needs  is  arranged  for  in  California  librai-y 
service. 

9.  The  County  Teachers  Library. 

For  years  the  county  superintendent  of 
schools  has  tried  to  use  to  best  advan- 
tage the  money  provided — under  the  law — 
for  a  county  teachers  library.  It  was 
often  difficult — in  some  cases  impossible 
— in  addition  to  regular  duties  to  keep 
track  of  the  book  market  and  be  sure  of 
getting  the  best  for  the  money.  Even 
after  the  books  were  bought,  there  was 
no  one  to  catalog  them  and  there  was  no 
fund  with  which  to  send  them  out  to  the 
teachers  of  the  county.  These  drawbacks 
to  the  success  of  the  county  teachers 
library  are  overcome  now  in  the  Califor- 
nia library  service. 

10.  The  Small  Free  Library,  the  Larger 

Free  Public  Library  and  the  Dis- 
trict  Library. 

By  the  small  free  library  is  meant  the 
small  library  that  although  free  to  the 
public  is  supported  by  subscriptions  or 
by  association  memberships.  Such  a  li- 
brary is  usually  supported  by  a  few  and 
the  cost  to  each  one  that  contributes  is 
very  high.  Even  then  the  total  amount 
raised  is  not  sufficient  to  pay  even  for 
suitable  quarters  and  service  for  the  li- 
brary, and  the  supply  of  books  can  not  be 
satisfactory. 

The  free  public  library  and  the  district 
library   are  both  supported  by  a   tax   on 


CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY    SERVICE. 


the  territory  covered.  The  law  allows 
three  mills  ou  the  dollar  of  assessed  valua- 
tion for  cities  of  the  4th,  5tli  and  Gth 
classes.  The  districts  that  have  district 
libraries  tax  themselves  as  high  as  2.9 
mills  on  the  dollar.  Still  the  amount 
raised  is  not  sufficient  to  pay  running 
expenses  of  building  and  a  salary  suf- 
ficient to  have  a  trained  librarian  and 
then  have  anything  left  with  which  to  buy 
the  necessary  books  and  pay  transporta- 
tion on  supplementary  books  needed.  The 
borrower,  if  he  gets  what  he  needs,  often 
has  to  pay  transportation  to  and  from 
some  larger  library.  This  expense  pre- 
vents many  from  getting  everything  they 
need. 

All  of  these  difficulties  are  overcome  in 
the  present  plan  for  California  library 
service. 

11.  The  Professional  California  Librarian. 
Of  course  many  of  the  larger  libraries 

of  California  have  needed  and  have  se- 
cured technically  trained  librarians  for 
many  years  past.  But,  as  there  has  been 
no  training  school  for  librarians  in  Cali- 
fornia and  as  only  a  few  could  attend  the 
eastern  library  schools,  it  has  been  neces- 
sary for  many  libraries  to  employ  many 
people  who  were  not  familiar  with  Cali- 
fornia conditions  and  needs.  The  Uni- 
versity of  California  has  helped  with  its 
summer  school  in  library  methods  but  for 
many  years  California  has  felt  the  need 
of  a  library  school.  This  need  is  now 
being  met,  and  with  a  new  and  inspiring 
profession  opening  up  for  the  young  men 
and  women  of  California,  the  possibility 
of  getting  their  training  in  California  adds 
t)  the  attractiveness  of  the  work. 

12.  The  California  State  Library. 

The  State  Library,  being  built  up  and 
kept  up  for  the  use  of  the  legislature 
and  state  officers,  must  in  order  to  meet 
such  needs  be  a  collection  covering  all  sub- 
jects and  including  all  sorts  of  material — 
law ;  legislative  reference  material ;  docu- 
ments, including  official  publications  of 
cities,  counties,  states.  United  States  and 
some  foreign  countries :  California  his- 
torical material  including  bound  volumes 
of  the  newspapers  of  the  state  properly 
indexed ;  general  reference  material  such 
as  serial  publications,  books  and  pamph- 
lets covering  history,  literature,  science, 
useful    arts,    fine    arts,    economics,    phil- 


osophy, and  bibliographies  of  all  sorts. 
This  material  is  the  sort  that  supple- 
ments the  free  public  and  other  libraries 
of  the  state  as  they  are  obliged  to  spend 
most  of  their  money  on  fiction  and  chil- 
dren's books.  In  order  to  get  the  full 
value  of  the  state's  investment  in  its 
State  Library,  the  collection  should  be 
accessible  to  all  the  people  of  the  state — • 
not  only  the  few  who  are  already  within 
reach  of  a  public  library  ;  not  only  those 
who  can  afford  to  pay  transportation  and 
who  can  take  the  time  to  write  for  ma- 
terial needed,  can  take  the  trouble  to  re- 
ceive and  acknowledge  a  shipment,  wrap 
and  go  through  the  necessary  details  of 
returning  a  shipment,  answering  due  no- 
tices, etc.  A  way  has  been  thought  out 
by  which  all  of  the  people  can  use  their 
State  Library  and  its  use  is  equal  and 
simple  for  all.  This  use  of  the  State 
Library  is  a  vital  part  of  Calif ornia'.i 
solution   of   libi-ary   service. 

CALIFORNIA'S      SOLUTION— BY 
MEANS   OF 

1.   The  County  Free  Library.* 

The  county  free  library  in  California 
is  a  library  which  is  established  by  reso- 
lution of  the  supervisors ;  which  is  sup- 
ported by  the  county  with  a  tax  of  not 
more  than  one  mill  on  one  dollar  of  asses- 
sed valuation ;  which  is  in  charge  of  a 
trained  and  experienced  librarian  who  has 
been  certificated  by  the  State  Board  of 
Library  Examiners ;  which  has  its  busi- 
ness headquarters  in  the  county  seat  and 
branches  in  every  part  of  the  county ; 
which  may  take  over  and  manage  school 
district  library  and  funds,  county  law  li- 
brary and  fund,  and  county  teachers'  li- 
brary and  fund ;  which  may  supplement 
and  co-operate  with  public  libraries  if 
the  towns  they  are  in  request  and  make 
necessary  arrangements  to  be  included ; 
and  which  gives  free  service  to  every 
resident  of  the  county. 

The  county  free  library  acts  as  a  store 
house  and  center  of  distribution  for  the 
whole  county  and  as  the  connecting  link 
between  the  State  Library  and  the  people 
of  the  county.   With  the  county  building  up 

*Note. — The  bill  for  the  county  free  li- 
brary was  introduced  in  the  California 
legislature  of  1911  by  H.  Stanley  Benedict 
of  Los  Angeles  and  was  signed  February 
25,  1911,  by  Governor  Hiram  W.  Johnson. 


CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY  SERVICE. 


a  collection,  it  meets  its  constant  needs  by 
furnishing  through  its  branches  answers 
and  books  for  many  of  the  individual 
inquirers,  by  filling  some  of  the  needs  of 
its  clubs  and  such  organizations ;  by  tak- 
ing over,  when  requested  to  do  so,  the 
library  money  of  school  districts,  pooling 
it  and  thus  getting  more  books  for  the 
use  of  all  the  schools  and  in  addition 
supplementing  the  regular  school  library 
needs  from  the  general  county  free  li- 
brary collection,;  by  furnishing  some  of 
the  material  needed  by  the  university 
graduates  for  their  further  investigations  ; 
by  buying  and  loaning  material  needed 
by  the  members  of  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia debating  league,  the  university 
extension  student  and  correspondence 
course  student ;  by  placing  branches  in 
jails,  prisons  and  hospitals ;  by  buying 
and  loaning  some  of  the  material  recom- 
mended by  the  county  farm  adviser ;  by 
caring  for  and  loaning  the  books  of  the 
county  law  and  county  teachers'  libraries ; 
and  by  filling  some  of  the  supplementary 
needs  of  the  small  free  library,  the  larger 
free  public  library  and  the  district  li- 
brary. With  all  of  these  first  needs  met 
through  a  county  institution,  and  with  a 
large  collection  being  built  up  in  this 
way  with  a  very  small  tax  (a  tax  rate 
less  than  a  third  of  what  is  levied  for 
the  average  free  public  library  in  a  town), 
it  is  possible  for  the  State  Library  to 
undertake  to  supplement  the  county  free 
library  and  to  do  it  free  of  all  expense 
to  the  county  or  borrower.  So  in  a 
county  with  a  county  free  library,  all 
jiarts  of  the  county  that  are  paying  the 
slight  county  free  library  tax  receive  free 
library  service  from  the  county  collection 
and  free  supplementary  service  from  the 
State    Library. 

All  unnecessary  duplication  is  avoided 
and  by  every  one  sharing  in  a  slight  tax, 
we  have  a  service  which  is  more  free  and 
more  complete  even  than  our  public 
schools,  for  it  furnishes  everything  needed 
alike  to  young  and  old,  and  rich  and 
poor. 

The  public  libraries  in  the  larger  cities 
like  Los  Angeles,  San  Francisco,  Oakland, 
etc.,  are  not  only  serving  the  residents 
of  those  cities  but  are  also  assisting  all 
they  can  toward  getting  county  free  li- 
braries started  to  serve  those  parts  of  the 
state  that  are  without  public  library  ser- 


vice. They  are  always  very  willing  to 
loan  a  book  which  they  may  have  that 
the  county  free  library  at  the  start  may 
not  have  in  its  collection,  and  so,  in  this 
way,  assist  toward  the  plan  for  complete 
service  for  those  residents  of  the  state 
who  are  being  reached  by  the  county  free 
libraries. 

Several  parts  of  the  service  can  logic- 
ally and,  at  least  at  present,  be  left  en- 
tirely to  the  State  Library.  The  books 
for  the  blind  is  an  example.  It  is  in 
the  interest  of  better  service  to  let  the 
State  Library  distribute  all  of  the 
books  for  the  blind.  The  borrowers  are 
scattered  and  the  state  is  as  yet  not  able 
to  handle  financially  more  than  one  such 
collection  and  have  it  large  enough  to  be 
of  value  to  the  blind  people  of  the  state. 
The  fact  that  the  U.  S.  Government 
grants  free  transportation  on  books  for 
the  blind  sent  to  and  from  an  institu- 
tion loaning  them  is  another  reason  for 
continuing  the  distribution  from  one 
center  for  the  present  at  least.  The 
State  Library  has  one  home  and  library 
teacher  for  the  blind  in  Los  Angeles  who 
helps  to  locate  the  blind  there  and  to  see 
that  they  learn  to  read  and  get  books  that 
they  want.  The  county  librarians  have 
helped  greatly  by  making  known  to  any 
blind  resident  of  the  county  the  resources 
of  the  State  Library  that  are  for  their 
use.  So  even  here  the  co-operation  of 
the  county  and  State  Library  has  very 
satisfactory  results.  The  service  is  very 
simple  and  entirely  free  as  a  blind  per- 
son needs  only  to  send  his  name  and  ad- 
dress and  wishes  in  the  way  of  books. 
He  can  have  the  use  of  as  many  as  he 
needs  and  for  as  long  as  he  needs  them. 

The  fact  that  foreigners  are  in  scattered 
groups  makes  it  also  logical  that  one  in- 
stitution should  buy  and  loan  all  such 
library  material.  So  the  State  Library 
is  undertaking  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 
state  for  foreign  books.  They  are,  how- 
ever, loaned  through  the  county  free  li- 
brary. 

A  collection  of  pictures  is  also  being 
started  by  the  State  Library  and  it  was 
thought  that  the  films,  slides,  records,  etc., 
needed  by  schools  and  groups  in  isolated 
communities  could  best  be  furnished  by 
the  State  Library  and  distributed  through 
the  county  free  library.  But  up  to  the 
present  the   State  Library  fund  has  not 


CjVlipornia  library  service. 


been  sufficient.  As  such  material  could 
go  out  in  the  same  shipments  with  books 
and  other  library  material,  it  seems  as 
if  such  a  distribution  of  the  much  needed 
aids  to  visual  instruction  must  work  out 
before  very   long. 

The  State  Library  has  a  County  Li- 
brary Organizer  and  a  School  Library 
Organizer  who  are  sent  out  on  request  to 
those  parts  of  the  state  needing  informa- 
tion and  assistance  in  establishing  a 
county  free  library,  or  in  the  school  li- 
brary service  possible  under  California 
laws.  This  work  can  best  be  carried  on 
by  the  State  Library  as  it  is  for  the 
benefit  of  the  state  as  a  whole  to  have 
the  library  service  of  all  sorts  improved. 
Within  the  counties,  however,  when  some 
smaller  librai-y  needs  advice  or  assistance 
on  any  technical  library  matter,  the  county 
librarian  gives  the  needed  help.  There  is 
no  charge  made  for  the  assistance  of  state 
ov  county  so  here  again  perfect  co-opera- 
tion means  economy. 

The  Sutro  Library  of  about  12.5,000 
volumes  which  was  recently  presented  to 
the  State  Library  by  the  heirs  of  the  late 
Adolph  Sutro,  when  properly  listed  and 
shelved,  will  be  a  San  Francisco  branch 
of  the  State  Library  and  also  made  ac- 
cessible to  the  people  of  the  state.  As 
it  consists  of  material  collected  for  the 
use  of  the  advanced  scholar,  it  will  help 
\-ery  greatly  toward  the  supplementary 
library  service  undertaken  by  the  State 
Library. 

Another  aid  to  the  libraries  and  the 
people  of  the  state  is  a  Union  Catalog 
which  is  at  the  State  Library.  It  aims  to 
include  an  author  card  for  every  addi- 
tion to  every  library  in  California.  The 
county  free  libraries  and  a  few  public 
libraries  are  sending  cards.  Stanford 
University  accessions  since  October,  1912, 
are  included  and  cards  are  being  received 
from  the  University  of  California  Li- 
brarj'  as  the  books  are  recatalogued.  The 
State  Library  is  also  a  depository  for 
cards  from  Harvard  University  Library, 
tha  University  of  Chicago  Library  and 
the  Library  of  Congress. 

If  the  book  requested  bj'  some  resident 
of  tha  state  through  his  nearest  branch 
is  not  in  the  State  Librarj%  it  is  possible 
at  least  to  send  back  the  information  as 
to  where  the  book  is,  and  then  it  is  bor- 
rowed  from   that  library   by   the  County 


Librarian.  In  this  way  the  resources  of 
(he  state  are  made  available  to  every  resi- 
dent and  the  central  location  for  the  in- 
formation at  the  State  Library  saves 
time  and  expense  of  locating  the  book 
when  it  may  be  a  rush  need. 

2.  The  California  State  Library  School. 
The  State  Library  established  the  Cali- 
fornia State  Library  School  September  4, 
1913.  This  will  help  to  meet  the  need  for 
technically  trained  librarians  who  are  not 
only  familiar  and  in  sj'mpathy  with  the 
California  conditions  and  needs,  but  who 
will  go  out  into  different  parts  of  the 
state  well  informed  on  the  resources  of 
their  State  Library  and  so  much  better 
able  to  see  that  it  is  used  by  the  people 
in  the  part  of  the  state  where  they  are 
employed. 

3.  The     California     Library     Association 

and   County   Librarians   Convention. 

The  California  Library  Association  in- 
cludes in  its  membership  most  of  the 
library  workers  and  libraries  in  the  state 
and  at  its  annual  convention  the  unity 
of  the  state's  effort  toward  complete  ser- 
vice is  emphasized.  By  getting  better 
acquainted  the  workers  although  scattered 
carry  on  the  service  as  if  they  were  a 
part  of  one  institution. 

The  county  free  library  law  requires 
that  an  annual  convention  of  county  li- 
brarians be  called  and  that  the  county 
librarians  attend.  These  meetings  where 
ideas  are  exchanged  have  helped  greatly 
in  perfecting  the  county  free  library  ser- 
vice. 

4.  The    State    Library's    Quarterly    Pub- 

lication,   News   Notes   of   California 

Libraries. 
Another  unifj^ing  factor  is  the  quarterly 
publication  of  the  State  Library — "News 
Notes  of  California  Libraries."  It  in- 
cludes statistical  reports  and  news  items 
of  all  of  the  libraries  of  the  state ;  a  direc- 
tory of  library  supplies  and  other  items 
of  general  interest  such  as  index  to  Cali- 
fornia library  current  events ;  a  section 
on  the  California  Library  Association ; 
one  on  the  Board  of  Library  Examiners ; 
full  information  about  the  work  of  the 
State  Library  and  State  Library  School, 
including  the  accessions  of  the  library  for 
that  quarter ;  and  frequently  biblio- 
graphies on  subjects  of  especial  interest 
to  the  state. 


2—17481 


10 


CAI.IFORNIA  LIBRARY  SERVICE. 


This  publication  keeps  up  the  acquaint- 
ance of  library  workers  and  keeps  each 
one  informed  of  the  work  of  the  others, 
and,  being  sent  free  to  all  libraries  in  the 
slate,  is  sure  of  reaching  everyone. 

SUMMARY— ECONOMICAL,     EQUAL 
AND   COMPLETE. 

ICconomical,  eciual  and  complete  is  the 
goal  of  the  plan  for  California  library 
s-.-rvice  and  as  tried  in  the  counties  that 
have  put  it  into  operation,  it  has  proved 
such  a  startling  success  that  the  eyes  of 
the  world  are  directed  toward  California 
as  being  the  state  that  is  rapidly  solv- 
ing all  of  the  library  problems  that  have 
appeared  since  libraries  began  to  want 
to  be  free  and  to  give  service. 

*SOME  OF  CALIFORNIA'S  LIBRARY 

SERVICE    IN     FIGURES    AND 

PICTURES.** 

Tctals  : 

Free   public   libraries 132 

Disti'ict  libraries 5 

County  free  libraries 26 

Law  libraries 66 

County  teachers'  libraries 58 

Libraries  in  educational  institutions  334 
Association  and  subscription  librar- 
ies   111 

Miscellaneous  institution  libraries-     47 

Total    779 

Branches  and  deposit  stations  con- 
nected with  above  listed  librar- 
ies : 

Total 1263 

Library  buildings : 

gifts    129 

others 21 

Total    150 

Growth  in  one  sort  of  library  service  : 
(jalifornia — 

Area,    158,297    square   miles. 

Second  in  size  among  the  states. 

Population,   2.377,549    (in  1910). 

Assessed      valuation,      $3,134,81L2S4 
(for  1914-15). 

Number  of  counties,  58. 
County  Free  Libi'ary  Service- 
Area  covered,  95,950  square  miles. 

Population    reached,   1,557,008. 

Appropriation  made,  $280,362.58. 

*For  a  graphic  picture  of  California 
Library  Service  see  the  map  of  Tlie  Cali- 
fornia County  Free  Library  on  tlie  wall 
above  tlie  American  Library  Association 
Exliibit  in  Palace  of  Education,  Panama- 
Pacific  International  Exposition,  San  Fran- 
cisco, Cal. 

**For  picture  of  California  Library 
Service,  see  moving  picture  film  in  Palace 
of  Education,  Panama-Pacific  International 
Exposition,  San  Francisco,  and  in  the 
Cliamber  of  Commerce  rooms,   San  Diego. 


School  districts 
Counties  active 

Alameda 

Butte 

Contra   Costa 

Fresno 

Glenn 

Humboldt 

Imperial 

Inyo 

Kern 

Kings 

Los  Angeles 

Madera 

Merced 


that  have  joined,  299. 
,  26,  as  follows : 

INIonterey 

Riverside 

Sacramento 

San   Bernardino 

San    Diego 

San   Joaquin 

San  Mateo 

Santa  Barbara 

Santa    Clara 

Solano 

Stanislaus 

Tulare 

Yolo 


Counties  added  since  January,  1915 : 
Ventura. 

County  free  library  service  in  Cali- 
fornia means  free  and  complete  library 
service  to  every  resident  of  the  county. 
Schools  can  be  included  in  the  service. 
The  California  State  Library  supnle- 
nients  the  county  service  free. 

The  plan  provides  for  complete  library 
service  to  every  resident  of  every  county 
in   the   state — free. 
It  is  growing. 

The  first  county  free  library  was  estab- 
lished in  Sacramento  County  October  1, 
1908. 

In  Jan.,  1909,   there  were  8  branches. 
In  Jan.,  1911,  there  were  90  branches. 
First    satisfactory    county    free    library 
law  passed  Feb.  25,   1911. 

In  Jan.,  1913,  there  were  255  branches. 
In  Jan.,  1915,  there  were  1,073  branches. 

Alameda  County. 

Served  under  contract  by  the  Oakland 
Free  Library. 

Charles  S.  Greene,  Librarian. 

Miss  Mary  Barmby,  Chief  of  Alameda 
County  Department. 

Pictures : 

In  the  children's  room. 

The  book  hospital 

Splints  for  broken  backs ! 

Story  hour  in  Mo&swood  Park 

Oakland. 

Alameda   County  Jail 

showing  a  jail  delivery. 

Branch   at 

historic    Mission    San    Jose. 
Alameda    Countv 

County  seat,  Oakland. 

Area.  840  square  miles. 

Population,  246,131   (in  1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $252,751,974  (tax- 
able for  county  $228,979,504). 

County  library  service  established  Sep- 
tember 26,  1910,  by  contract  between  the 


CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY    SERVICE. 


11 


Board  of  Supervisors  of  Alameda  County 
and  the  Board  of  Library  Directors  of 
tlie  Oakland  Free  Library.  Work  started 
November  1,  1910.  Appropriation  1914- 
15,  $23,500.  Branches  (Jan.  1,  1915) 
25 :16  with  reading  rooms ;  3  in  other 
libraries  ;  G  in  schools  and  elsewhere. 

The  population  of  Alameda  County  is 
mostly  the  urban  end,  to  the  north  and 
west.  Oakland,  Berkeley  and  Alameda 
comprise  six-sevenths  of  the  total,  and 
these  cities  had  long  had  good  libraries. 
This  was  true  also  of  the  smaller  cities 
of  Hayward,  Livermore,  Pleasanton  and 
San  Leandro.  Even  the  unincorporated 
town  of  Niles  had  for  some  years  a  li- 
brary  owned   by  an   association. 

Oakland's  collection  of  books  was  at 
once  by  the  terms  of  the  contract  made 
open  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  county, 
and  hundreds  of  persons  have  taken  ad- 
vantage of  that  extension,  principally  resi- 
dents of  Berkeley,  Emeryville  and  Pied- 
mont. The  idea  of  regulation  library  ser- 
vice was,  in  consequence  of  these  facts, 
well  disseminated  throughout  the  county, 
and  it  has  been  the  effort  of  the  county 
department  to  give  to  the  rural  population 
as  nearly  a  city  service  as  possible.  For 
this  reason  branches  in  separate  quarters 
with  reading  rooms,  with  paid  attendants, 
with  a  permanent  collection  of  books  and 
with  the  service  of  periodicals,  pictures, 
stereographic  views,  and  frequent  deliv- 
ery from  the  main  library,  have  made  up 
the  major  part  of  its  work.  Schools  have 
had  less  attention,  but  are  gradually  be- 
ing shown  the  advantage  of  collective  use 
of  their  funds.  County  instituiions,  the 
jail,  the  almshouse  and  infirmary,  are  regu- 
larly served.  The  department  co-operates 
with  the  county  farm  adviser,  buying 
books  that  he  suggests,  which  he  helps  to 
circulate. 

The  libraries  of  Alameda  are : 

Oakland  Free  Library  (11  branches  and 
Public  Museum)    volumes  101,016. 

County  Department  (25  branches)  20,- 
700. 

Alameda    Library    (1    branch)    47,303. 

Alameda  County  Law  Library,  12,000. 

Berkeley  Library   (5  branches)   55,633. 

Hayward  Library,  4,088. 

San   Leandro   Library,   3,423. 

Livermore  Library,  3,722. 

The  University  of  California  Library 
at  Berkeley   (including  the  valuable  Ban- 


croft  library   of   Pacific   Coast   History) 
3.52,514. 

Grand  total  of  volumes,  603,909. 

Butte  County  Free  Library. 

Miss  Gladys  Brownson,  County  Libra- 
rian. 

Butte  County 

County  seat,  Oroville. 

Area,  1,764  square  miles. 

Population,   27,301    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  .$25,247,155  (tax- 
able for  county  $20,125,743). 

County  Free  Library  established  Sept. 
3.  1913.  Work  started  Nov.  1, 1913.  Ap- 
propriation, 1915-16,  $5,800.  Branches 
(Jan.  1,  1915),  67. 

During  the  thirteen  months  that  the 
Butte  County  Free  Library  has  been  in 
operation,  books  have  been  distributed 
to  every  corner  of  the  county. 

In  the  larger  communities  the  school 
and  community  are  served  separately  but 
the  widely  .scattered  population  of  the 
.smaller  districts  is  served  through  the 
school.  In  this  way  the  school  furnishes 
the  reading  for  both  adults  and  children. 
When  summer  schools  close  for  the  winter 
mouths  some  resident  cares  for  the  books 
so  the  readers  are  not  deprived  of  books 
although   the   school   has  closed. 

The  most  remote  branch,  where  the  peo- 
ple are  snow-bound  for  three  months,  is 
served  early  in  the  fall  with  sufficient 
reading  matter  for  that  time. 

The  library  is  already  circulating  about 
3,000  books  each  month. 

Contra    Costa    County    Free    Library. 
Mrs    Alice    G.    Whitbeck,    County    Li- 
brarian. 

Pictures  : 

The  headquarters. 

100   shipments 

by   express  each  month. 

The  properties 

of  a  lumber  company 

as  a  center  for 

branch    library    service. 

The   Swedish  books 

have   come. 

Through  the  branch 
at  the  sugar  refinery 
and  that  of  the  town 
books  reach  everyone. 


12 


CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY  SERVICE. 


Contra  Costa  County 

County    seat,    Martinez. 

Area.  750  square  miles. 

Population,  31,674    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation.  $52,204,930  (tax- 
able for  county  $45,808,455). 

County  free  Library  established  July 
21,  1913,  work  started  Oct.  1,  1913.  Ap- 
propriation, 1914-15,  $10,726.63.  Branches 
(Jan.  1,  1915),  50. 

The  library  facilities  of  Contra  Costa 
County  had  been  but  very  little  devel- 
oped before  the  establishment  of  the 
county  free  library.  Martinez  had  a  small 
subscription  library,  tn'o  other  towns  were 
trying  to  make  a  start  and  only  Rich- 
mond had  a  flourishing  public  library. 

Martinez,  the  county  seat,  though  not 
the  geographic  center  is  very  easy  of  ac- 
cess to  the  many  manufacturing  towns 
along  the  water  front  and  with  express 
to  all  the  farming  centers  makes  a  very 
central  town  from  which  to  work. 

So  rapidly  did  the  idea  of  having  local 
branches  appeal  to  all  communities,  there 
are  now  50  different  collections  of  books 
in  constant  use.  These  collections  vary 
according  to  the  needs  of  the  community 
and  are  housed  as  eacn  place  finds  most, 
convenient.  Some  are  in  reading  rooms, 
club  rooms,  schoolhouses,  post  oflSces, 
grocery  stores,  private  homes,  lodge  rooms, 
in  all  cases  the  rooms  being  furnished  by 
the  community. 

A  branch  is  located  wherever  the  inter- 
est is  great  enough  to  make  the  demand. 
Books  are  exchanged  as  often  as  desired, 
and  requests  are  answered  by  parcel  post 
or  express  as  promptly  as  possible.  There 
i.^  no  time  limit  on  any  of  the  collections. 
Magazines  are  taken  for  all  the  schools 
and  branches. 

The  seventy  miles  of  water  frontage 
are  dotted  with  factories  of  every  kind, 
and  each  town  along  the  bay  has  its 
branch.  The  large  farming  interior  is 
well  supplied  by  branches  in  all  the  town 
centers. 

During  the  first  month  of  the  library 
four  branches  were  formed,  and  the  cir- 
culation was  177  volumes.  During  Jan- 
uary, 1915,  the  fifty  branches  circulated 
6,148  volumes.  These  figures  tell  the 
story  of  the  appreciation  of  the  county 
free   library. 


Fresno  County  Free  Library. 

Miss   Sarah   E.   McCardle,   County   Li- 
brarian. 
Pictures : 

Branch   in   hotel   building 

Branch  in  business  building 

Branch   in   Carnegie   building 

Branch   in   tank  house 

No  dry  books 

Children   enjoy 

story  hour 

Scenes  at 

headquarters. 

Note  the 

Chinese  borrowers 
Fresno  County 

County  seat,  Fresno. 

Area,  6,035  square  miles. 

Population,   75,657    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $96,567,818  (tax- 
able   for    county    $82,678,446). 

County  Free  Library  established  March 
12,  1910.  Appropriation,  1914-15,  $25,- 
290.     Branches    (Jan.  1,   1915),  40. 

In  this  county  there  were  only  two 
public  libraries,  at  Fresno  and  Selma, 
and  a  few  very  inadequate  subscription 
libraries,  previous  to  the  opening  of  the 
county  free  library  in  1910.  Now  every 
town,  village  and  community  has  its 
county  branch  and  has  every  privilege  of 
a  library. 

The  county  free  library  has  certainly 
been  a  great  blessing  to  the  people  of  the 
county — it  has  helped  the  schools,  opened 
up  opportunities  for  education  the  country 
schools  have  never  had  before.  It  is  help- 
ing to  educate,  not  only  our  young  people, 
but  the  older  ones  as  well,  giving  them  a 
broader,  better  outlook  on  life.  It  has 
helped  to  make  life  worth  living  in  the 
most  remote  parts  of  the  county  at  the 
lumber  camps  in  the  mountains,  and  on 
the  lonely  farms. 

Glenn    County    Free   Library. 

Miss  Essae  M.   Culver,   County  Libra- 
rian. 
Pictures : 

Branch  in  country  store 
Branch  in  bank  building 
Old  hotej  bar  room 
turned  into  library  branch 
Books   always  on   tap 


CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY   SERVICE. 


13 


Glenn  County 

County  seat.  Willows. 

Area,  1,460  square  miles. 

Population,   7,172    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $17,570,399  (tax 
able  for  county,  $1.5,678,263). 

County  Free  Library  established  April 
8,  1914.  AVork  started  Au^.  1,  1914.  Ap- 
propriation, 1914-15,  $4,335.64.  Branches 
(Jan.   1,   1915),  20. 

Glenn  County  is  part  of  that  great 
agricultural  region  known  as  the  Sacra- 
mento Valley  and  in  its  pursuits  offers 
no  diversity,  for  agriculture  is  its  "raison 
d'etat"  and  the  only  vai-iation  in  activity 
comes  in  the  great  diversity  of  products 
possible  in  this  region. 

The  county  free  library  has  come  to 
fill  a  long  felt  need  for  most  of  the  popu- 
lation, in  colonies  and  scattered  on  the 
large  ranches,  has  had  no  access  to  books 
either  for  information  or  recreational 
reading  and  this  lack  was  most  keenly 
felt  during  the  long  rainy  season  when 
outdoor  activity  was  impossible. 

The  avidity  with  which  the  county  free 
library  idea  was  taken  up  testifies  to  the 
eagerness  of  the  people  for  books,  and  in 
the  first  six  months  of  operation  19 
branches  were  established,  the  details  of 
location  and  custodian  having  been  worked 
out,  in  almost  every  case,  before  the  com- 
ing of  the  county  librarian. 

The  branch  at  Ord  is  in  the  general 
store  of  Mr  Stull.  There  is  no  settlement 
immediately  surrounding  this  store  but 
the  farmers  of  the  neighborhood  come 
here  for  their  provisions  and  Mrs  Stull, 
the  custodian,  supplies  them  with  books. 
The  demands  at  this  branch  are  for  ma- 
terial for  club  programs  for  the  farmers' 
wives,  information  for  the  fanner,  and 
recreational   reading  lor  all. 

At  Hamilton,  a  city  built  up  around 
a  .sugar  factory  at  present  not  in  opera- 
tion, the  library  is  in  the  bank  building, 
donated  by  the  sugar  company.  The  li- 
brary is  open  a  part  of  every  week  day 
and  a  good  .  supply  of  magazines  supple- 
ments the  book  material.  The  children 
are  the  most  eager  patrons  of  this  branch, 
but  they  arc  gradually  inducing  the  par- 
onls  to  make  use  of  this  opportunity  also. 

Orland  is  a  wide  awake,  bustling  com- 
munity of  1,200  inhabitants,  eager  to 
take  advantage  of  every  opportunity,  edu- 
cational   or    social,    oECcred,    so    that    the 


library,  from  the  beginning,  has  been  a 
busy  institution.  It  is  located  in  what 
was  formerly  the  bar  i-oom  of  the  hotel, 
the  bar  still  serving  the  public  with  stimu- 
lants and  the  new  use  makes  the  building 
more  popular  than  the  old,  for  over  520 
books,  a  number  larger  than  the  total  col- 
lection, were  issued  in  the  third  month 
of  its  operation  and  each  month  the  pat- 
ronage is  rapidly  increasing. 

The  branch  in  the  Willows  Public  Li- 
brary has  been  established  but  a  few 
weeks  but  already  a  great  many  requests 
have  been  received  for  material  for  club 
program.s,  debates,  agricultural  informa- 
tion and  for  school  work  which  could  not 
have  been  supplied  from  the  resources 
of  the  public  library  alone. 

Humboldt   County   Free   Library. 

Miss  Ida  M.  Reagan,  County  Librarian. 
Humboldt   County 

County  seat.   Eureka. 

Area,  3.;j07  square  miles. 

Population,  33,857    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $33,793,967  (tax- 
iil)le    for    county,    $32,189,821). 

County  Free  Library  established  May 
12,  1914.  Work  to  be  started  April  12, 
1915.  Appropriation  1914-15.  about 
$(J,0O0. 

Imperial    County    Free    Library. 

Mrs   Thomas   B.   Beeman,    County   Li- 
brarian. 

Pictures  : 

Box  car  branch 

at  desert  station 

Books  and  other  food  supplies 

travel  to  one  branch 

by  way  of  Arizona  and 

Colorado  River  ferry 

The  C  M  Ranch   (million  acres) 
mostly  in  Mexico  h.ns 
a   branch   for  employees 
nearly  all  foreigners 

Imperial  County 

County  seat,  El  Centro. 

Area,  4,.316  square  miles. 

Population,  13,591    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $25,757,829  ((ax- 
able   for  county,   $21..550,I57) . 

County  Free  Lilirary  established  Fob. 
6,  ]912.  Ajipropriation,  1914-15,  $2,- 
155.02.      Branches    (Jan.    1,    1915),    38. 


u 


CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY  SERVICE. 


The  circulation  of  the  Imperial  County 
Free  Library  in  its  three  years  of  exist- 
ence gives  an  idea  of  its  growth  and 
popularity  : 

The  first  year  7,G36  books  were  cir- 
culated. 

The  second  year  32,792  books  were  cir- 
culated. 

The  third  year  55,401  books  were  cir- 
culated. 

Some  of  the  locations  in  this  county 
that  are  receiving  library  service  are 
unique.  Imperial  Junction  (now  Niland) 
was  the  junction  where  people  change 
to  go  to  Yuma  and  to  Imperial  Valley. 
The  population — not  more  than  75  at  the 
time  the  branch  was  established  consisted 
of  railroad  employees.  With  no  stores, 
everything  was  brought  to  the  people  by 
train.  The  post  office  was  located  in  a 
box  car  and  this  was  the  only  place  that 
seemed  available  for  the  library  quarters. 
The  postmaster  finally  agreed  to  take  upon 
himself  another  duty  so  he  moved  his 
post  oflSce  to  one-half  of  the  car  and  gave 
us  the  other  half  for  the  use  of  the  branch. 
The  post  office  and  county  free  library 
branch  did  the  biggest  business  in  the 
whole  place. 

Bard  is  nearly  on  the  border  line  be- 
tween California  and  Arizona,  and  to  get 
books  to  the  people  at  the  branch  there, 
they  are  sent  first  to  Yuma,  Arizona. 
Then  they  are  ferried  across  the  Colorado 
River — the  horse  and  wagon  with  books 
and  daily  supplies,  driving  on  the  feri-y 
boat  and  riding  across. 

Another  unusual  example  of  location 
is  the  C  M  Ranch — -a  million  acre  ranch 
known  as  the  California  Mexico  Ranch, 
most  of  the  land  being  in  Mexico.  The 
borrowers — employees  of  the  ranch — are 
largely  foreigners  and  many  of  them 
are  learning  the  English  language  and 
asking  for  easy  reading  books. 

The  library  service  to  the  schools  is  a 
big  part  of  the  rapid  growth.  In  one 
school  district,  the  branch  library  was 
so  popular  and  the  demand  for  books  so 
great  that  it  outgrew  its  quarters  in  the 
schoolhouse  and  needed  more  room.  En- 
tertainments were  given,  box  suppers  and 
many  other  festivities,  and  as  the  result 
there  stands  in  the  school  yard  a  little 
portable  bungalow  building;  with  built-in 
shelves  and  attractive  interior.  The  peo- 
ple purchased  Ihe  portable  house,  hauled 


it  on  a  wagon  from  the  depot  for  9  miles 
and  put  it  up  themselves.  It  is  one  of 
the  thriving  branches.  The  circulation 
the  first  year  was  827  and  for  its  second 
year  3,985  books. 

Inyo    County    Free    Library. 

Miss   Jennie   May  Brown,   County   Li- 
brarian. 

Inyo  County 

County   seat.    Independence. 

Area,   10,224   square   miles. 

Population,   6,974    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $12,2o3,4(>4  (tax- 
able for  county,  $7,866,885). 

County  Free  Library  established  Sept. 
15,  1913.  Work  started  Oct.  1,  1913. 
Appropriation,  1914-15,  $4,200.  Branches 
(Jan.  1,  1915),  7. 

Inyo  County  is  the  second  largest 
county  in  the  state — as  large  as  all  the 
New  England  states,  except  Maine,  com- 
bined. But  in  this  territory  is  only  a 
small  population,  and  the  increase,  if  any, 
has  been  very  slight  in  the  last  five  years 
owing  to  inadequate  transportation  facil- 
ities and  its  isolation  from  the  rest  of  the 
state,  and  from  the  world  in  fact.  The 
population  is  scattered  the  length  of  the 
county,  the  majority  being  in  Owens  Val- 
ley ;  however,  there  are  many  minors  in 
the   mountains. 

T'"licre  is  only  one  incorporated  town 
ii!  the  county,  with  a  population  of  about 
1,200  within  its  limits  and  about  1,300 
more  in  its  neighborhood.  The  other 
towns  vary  from  about  150  to  500,  the 
county  being  distinctly  a  rural  people. 
The  county  seat,  the  headquarters  of  the 
library,  is  one'  of  the  smaller  towns,  thus 
making  the  work  rather  more  difficult, 
necessitating  a  large  amount  of  traveling. 

The  population  of  the  county  consists  of 
miners,  cattlemen  and  ranchers,  besides 
the  usual  storekeepers,  professional  men, 
etc.,  and  the  Indians,  the  original  inhab- 
itants. 

In  1013  when  the  county  free  library 
was  established  there  were  no  libraries 
in  Ihc  county,  except  two  small  club  li- 
lirarics,  bolh  of  which  were  turned  over 
lo  Ihe  county  free  library  almost  imme- 
diately. From  !he  start  the  people  werii 
nuxious  for  the  books  and  it  has  been  a 
question,  not  of  getting  people  to  read 
the   books   but   of   getting   books   for   the 


CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY   SERVICE. 


15 


people  to  read.  After  a  year  and  a  half 
of  work  there  are  1,205  borrowers,  4 
reading  rooms,  3  deposit  stations,  1  com- 
bination deposit  and  school  branch,  and 
two  schools  receiving  just  school  service, 
with  two  more  schools  which  have  con- 
tracted for  service   for  the  coming  year. 

There  are  2,126  volumes  belonging  to 
the  county  besides  a  state  loan  which  en- 
ables the  library  to  do  greater  work.  The 
circulation  for  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June  30,  1914  (for  nine  months'  time, 
the  library  being  established  Oct.  1,  1913), 
was  6,623  while  the  circulation  for  the 
quarter  January-March,  1915,  was  6,247. 
The  circulation  for  the  nine  months  of 
this  year,  July-March  1915,  is  13,406  or 
over  twice  that  of  the  first  nine  months 
of  establishment. 

The  ranchers  are  now  beginning  to  feel 
the  practical  need  of  the  library,  coming 
in  to  ask  why  their  grapevines  "bleed," 
what  should  be  done  for  black  rot,  how 
to  trim  their  berry  vines,  etc.  Several 
agricultural  debates  have  been  decided  by 
the  books  at  the  Library. 

One  club  last  year  asked  for  service, 
while  three  clubs,  one  divided  into  two 
study  sections,  thus  making  four  subjects, 
have  been  served  this  year. 

When  a  bridge  was  washed  out  la.st 
year  books  were  promptly  requested  from 
the  State  Library,  and  served  so  valuable 
a  purpose  that  they  were  requested  again 
this  year,  when  other  bridges  were  to  be 
built. 

Kern  County  Free  Library. 

Miss   Harriet   C.   Long,   County   Libra- 
rian. 
Pictures : 

Headquarters  lu 

county   court   house 

Power  plant  library  branch 

Librarj'  branch 

in  an  oil  center 

A  library  oasis 

in  the  desert 
Kern  county 

County  seat,   Bnkersfield. 

Area,  S,l.">9  square  miles. 

Population,  37,71.".    (in   1910). 

AssosKcd  vahiotion.  $.S5.''47,r»(>0  (tax- 
able   for    county.    .luO.1 95.213). 

County  Free  Library  established  Nov. 
16,  1910.     Work  started  Nov.  1,  1911.    Ap- 


propriation,  1914-15,   $17,300.     Branches 
(Jan.  1,  1915),  38. 

Prior  to  the  opening  of  the  Kern 
County  Free  Library,  the  city  of  Bakers- 
field  was  the  only  community  in  the  en- 
tire county  to  maintain  a  free  library. 
Opportunities  for  library  service  were 
therefore  very  great,  for  the  immense 
oil  fields,  the  mines,  the  ranches,  the 
desert  claims  and  the  power  plants  had  at- 
tracted to  the  county  a  thoroughly  wide- 
awake and  intelligent  people  of  varied 
interests. 

Bakersfield,  the  county  seat  of  Kern 
County,  is  fortunately  located  near  the 
center  of  the  county,  and  the  County 
Free  Library  headquarters  are  in  the 
court  house  at  that  place. 

Fixed  collections  of  books  are  unknown 
in  the  system  of  library  service  as  op- 
erated in  Kern  County,  for  the  books  sent 
to  each  branch  ai"e  carefully  selected  with 
the  needs  of  that  particular  community 
in  mind.  Nor  is  there  any  limit  to  the 
length  of  time  for  which  the  books  may 
be  retained  at  any  branch.  The  collec- 
tion is  constantly  shifting.  Each  mouth 
on  the  receipt  of  some  new  books,  the 
custodian  returns  to  the  business  head- 
quarters any  books  no  longer  needed  by 
her  patrons.  At  all  times  the  people  of 
(he  county  are  urged  to  make  their  book 
wants  known,  and  every  effort  is  made 
to  supply  individual  books.  The  number 
of  volumes  in  any  branch  varies  also  ac- 
cording to  the  community,  some  of  the 
smaller  branches  having  but  forty  vol- 
umes, while  other  collections  embrace 
more  than  700.  In  some  of  the  larger 
towns  the  people  have  furnished  a  nnnu — 
or  even  erected  a  building  (one  lins  a 
portable  building)  in  which  to  house  tly 
branch  library  and  provide  reading  room 
facilities.  But  the  branch  may  also  bo 
in  the  village  post  oflice,  in  the  school- 
house,  in  the  church  at  the  cross  roads, 
in  the  warehouse  of  an  oil  company,  or 
in  the  home  of  some  good  woman  who 
has  volunteered  to  share  her  parlor  with 
the  people  of  her  neighborhood  in  order 
that  they  may  have  library  service.  But 
whei-ever  the  branch  may  be  located, 
whether  it  be  in  some  little  mountain 
village  forty  miles  from  the  railroad,  or 
in  the  heart  of  the  oil  fields.  gu;irdod  by 
the  multitude  of  derricks  which  are  every- 
where silhouetted  against  the  horizon,  or 


16 


CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY  SERVICE. 


even  in  the  midst  of  the  great  Mojave 
desert,  the  books  are  heartily  welcomed 
by  the  people. 

Kings  County  Free  Library. 
INIiss    Bessie    B.     Silverthorn,    County 
Librarian. 
IMctures : 

Headquarters 

School  boys  carry  books 

to  city  schools 

Braiich  in   restaurant 

Proprietor  is  custodian 

Books  served  free 

Library  service 

to  harvester  camps 

too  far  from  regular  branch 

to  get  books  there 

Kings  County 

County  seat,  Hanford. 

Area.  1,375  square  miles. 

Population,  1G,230   (in  1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $16,237,992  (tax- 
able  for  county,   $13,450,270). 

County  Free  Library  established  June 
4.  1912.  ^York  started  Nov.  12, 1912.  Ap- 
propriation, 1914-15,  $9,335.23.  Branches 
(Jan.  1,  1915),  38. 

The  Kings  County  Free  Library  has 
brnnchHs  in  all  the  communities  repre- 
.scnting  the  varied  activities  of  the  county. 
Armona  and  Grangeville  Branch  are  in 
the  heart  of  the  fruit  district,  Lemoorc 
Branch  is  in  the  alfalfa  region,  Stratford 
Branch  on  the  edge  of  the  grain  country, 
while  Corcoran  Branch  is  in  the  dairy- 
ing and  grain  center.  The  remaining 
iM-anches  of  the  county  free  library  arc 
distributed  through  the  various  communi- 
ties, one  of  them  being  below  Tulare 
I^ake,  about  45  miles  from  the  county 
seat,  and  about  20  miles  from  a  railroad. 
Th'.^  county  free  library  is  endeavoring  to 
serve  not  only  the  permanent  residents 
of  the  county,  but  also  the  great  number 
of  temporary  workers  attracted  to  the 
county  during  the  fruit  cutting,  raisin 
drying,  and  grain  harvesting  seasons,  and 
made  up  of  some  of  the  finest  young  men 
.-.nd  women  in  the  state. 

One  of  the  films  taken  in  Kings  County 
shows  the  county  free  library  service  to 
one  of  the  many  harvesting  camps  around 
Tulare  Lake.  Boxes  of  books  were  dis- 
tributed to  those  camps  in  the  care  of  the 


foremen,  and  last  year  in  one  month  over 
500  books  and  magazines  were  loaned,  in 
this  way.  In  the  picture  taken  the 
county  librarian  is  leaving  a  box  of  books 
in  front  of  the  cook  wagon  at  one  camp. 
The  men  who  are  waiting  for  dinner 
gather  around  the  box  and  several  select 
books  for  later  reading.  One  man  takes 
a  book  he  is  especially  interested  in  (The 
Prince  of  India)  over  to  his  tent  before 
going  in  to  dinner,  as  he  wants  to  be 
sure   no  one   else   gets   it   ahead   of   him. 

The  second  film  shows  the  Stratford 
Branch  of  the  Kings  County  Free  Li- 
brary, with  the  custodian,  Mrs  A.  M. 
Winskill,  in  the  doorway.  Stratford  is 
a  real  pioneer  town,  and  the  library  cus- 
todian manages  the  only  restaurant  in 
the  town,  is  the  trained  nurse  for  the 
community,  and  is  its  correspondent  with 
out  of  town  newspapers. 

The  third  film  taken  shows  the  Han- 
ford Public  Library,  the  headquarters  of 
the  Kings  County  Free  Library,  with 
which  it  cooperates.  Two  boys  are  tak- 
ing some  special  request  material  over  to 
the  public  school  in  the  city  library's 
book  carrier.  Teachers  telephone  to  the 
library  their  needs,  and  this  method  of 
quick  service  through  the  book  box  is  the 
result. 

The  library  service  of  the  county  is 
keeping  pace  with  the  county's  develop- 
ment, and  at  every  point  endeavors  to 
be  the  ally  and  helper  of  the  county 
people,  men,   women  and  children. 

Los  Angeles  County   Free   Library. 
Miss  Celia  Gleason,  County  Librarian. 
Pictures : 

County  Hospital  patients 

enjoy  books  from 

Count.v  Free  Library 

Record  in  oi)oning  branch 

Request    telephoned 

to  headquarters    (70  mil(>s) 

I*ooks!  selected  and  shipped 

Received  and  loaned 

all  in  less  than  two  days 

County  Free  Library  serves 

new  socialist  colony 

Children  help 

county  librarian 

open  branch  in  si  lioolhouse 

Liitrary   branch 

at  borax  mine 


CALIFORNIA   LffiRABY   SERVICE, 


17 


Branch  on   recreation  pier, 
a    record    "breaker" 

Los  Angeles  County 

County  seat,   Los  Angeles. 

Area,  4,000  square  miles. 

Population.    ^04.1.31    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $S49,991,559  (tax- 
able  for  county  $092,165,449). 

County  Free  Library  established  Sept. 
5,  1912.  Appropriation,  1914-15,  $42,943. 
Branches   (Jan.  1,  1915),  84. 

The  Los  Angeles  County  Free  Library 
dates  from  January  1,  1913,  the  first 
branch  being  established  in  April  of  that 
year.  At  the  end  of  two  years  there  are 
in  operation  93  branches,  with  20,000 
cardholders,  a  monthly  circulation  of  40,- 
000  volumes,  52,000  books  on  deposit  in 
the  branches  and  15,500  volumes  in  the 
central  library  including  5.500  in  the 
Teachers'  Library,  to  be  drawn  upon.  The 
branches  extend  from  Antelope  Valley  to 
Catalina,  and  from  Claremont  to  Owens- 
mouth.  The  pictures  shown  are  of  repre- 
sentative branches. 

Hermosa  Beach  opened  July,  1913,  in 
small  rented  quarters.  It  now  occupies 
a  spacious  room  at  the  entrance  of  the 
municipal  pier.  It  has  on  deposit  1,000 
volumes,  a  circulation  of  731  a  month, 
and  715  readers  are  registered.  A  large 
summer  population  from  surrounding 
towns  enjoy  transient  privileges. 

The  Sterling  Borax  Mine  located  five 
miles  back  into  the  mountains  from  Lang 
in  the  Soledad  Canyon  has  a  population 
of  about  a  hundred,  all  employees  of  the 
mine  and  their  families.  There  are  on 
deposit  KiG  volumes,  and  a  circulation  of 
05  a  month  is  reported.  The  library  was 
opened  in  a  tent,  and  the  sectional  book 
cases  were  made  of  powder  boxes. 

Lancaster,  the  oldest  town  in  Ante- 
lope Valley,  has  had  its  branch  since 
July,  1913.  It  now  contains  930  volumes, 
with  a  circulation  of  550  a  month,  and 
473  registered  borrowers.  It  has  com- 
modious quarters,  shared  with  the  Chnm- 
ber  of  Commerce  in  a  new  brick  building. 

Llano,  a  new  settlement  in  Antelope 
Valley  twenty-three  miles  east  of  Palm- 
dale,  has  396  volumes,  129  readers,  and  a 
cirfulation  of  310  a  month.  It  was 
op'Mied  in  August,  1014,  and  has  recently 
been  moved  to  the  club  house  which  is 
the  social  center  of   the   town. 


Leona  School  District,  west  of  Palm- 
dale  was  being  established  as  the  picture 
was  being  taken.  It  is  located  in  the 
schoolhouse  which  is  the  social  center 
of  the  Leoneis  Valley.  The  branch  was 
opened  with  216  volumes  and  23  bor- 
rowers immediately  made  application. 

As  the  librarian  was  unloading  boxes 
of  freight  for  Leona  School  District  at 
Palmdale,  citizens  of  this  town  became 
interested.  Application  for  a  branch  was 
promptly  made,  the  librarian  telephoned 
to  Los  Angeles  for  books  and  supplies, 
which  were  sent  up  the  next  day  by  ex- 
press, and  by  nine  o'clock  of  the  day  after, 
the  brancli  was  opened  with  over  200  vol- 
umes, 23  borrowers  at  once  signed. 

The  library  of  the  county  hospital  was 
started  by  the  Christian  Endeavor  So- 
ciety several  years  ago  and  originally  con- 
sisted of  books  discarded  by  city  libraries 
in  the  county.  In  1913  a  building  was 
erected  providing  space  for  a  newspaper 
and  recreation  room  for  patients,  a 
general  reading  room,  a  study  room  for 
internes  and  a  stack  room  containing 
books  of  general  interest  furnished  by 
the  county  free  library  and  a  collection 
of  medical  books  for  the  physicians.  In 
addition  is  a  permanent  deposit  in  the 
tuberculosis  ward  of  several  hundred 
books  contributed  by  La  Vina  Sanitorium, 
in  which  sanitorium  is  a  branch  of  the 
county   free   library. 

Los  Angeles  Public  Library. 

Everett    K.    Perry,    Librarian. 
IMctures : 

The  information  desk 
Borrowers  helped  to  find 
just  what  they  want 

Loan  desk 

Some  days  5,000  books  loaned 

New   Carnegie 

branch   building 

Outdoor   rending   room 

enjf!ye<l  almost  entin;  year 

Playground  branch 

Cames  first 

then  a  quiet  hour   with  books 

In  Los  Angeles 
10n,(»no  ])eo])le 
have  library  cards 
They   borrow   nearly 
2,000,000  books  yearly 


18 


CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY  SERVICE. 


Los  Angeles  City 

Area  107.12  square  miles. 

Population,   319.198    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation  $508,247,110  (non- 
operative.   $415,864,410). 

Free  Public  Library  established  in 
1S91.  Appropriation  1914-15,  $173,269. 
Brandies  (Jan.  1,  1915),  30  and  deposit 
stations  51. 

This  is  the  largest  public  library  in  the 
West,  having  a  circulation  of  1,715,000 
books  in  1914.  It  now  stands  seventh 
among  American  public  libraries  in  point 
of  book  circulation,  and  the  largest  west 
of  Chicago.  Its  service  covers  one  hun- 
dred and  seven  square  miles,  through  its 
main  library,  thirty  branches  and  fifty-one 
deposit  stations,  the  later  located  in  shops, 
stores  and  schoolhouses.  The  main  li- 
brary occupies  beautiful  and  convenient 
rented  quarters  in  the  shopping  district. 
On  busy  days  as  many  as  5,000  books 
are  loaned  at  the  delivery  desk  in  the 
adult  circulation  department.  Over  two 
million  people  visit  the  central  library 
in  a  year.  Beside  the  usual  circulation, 
reference  and  juvenile  departments,  and 
the  periodical  room,  the  Los  Angeles  Pub- 
lic Library  has  three  special  departments, 
in  which  all  the  reference  and  circulating 
books  and  magazines  on  the  subjects  are 
collected.  These,  the  Industrial,  the  Art 
and  Music,  and  the  Sociology  Depart- 
ments, are  in  charge  of  specially  trained 
assistants.  The  Art  and  Music  Depart- 
ment has  a  collection  of  3,500  bound  vol- 
umes of  musical  scores,  which  circulate 
free,  like  books.  There  is  also  a  sound 
proof  music  room  and  a  piano,  which  can 
be  used  free  by  the  public  to  try  over 
the  music.  Prartirally  all  (if  (he  bonks 
in  the  main  library  are  on  open  shelves 
where  the  readers  have  free  access  to 
them.  In  two  years  the  circulation  has 
grown  70  per  cent,  while  the  expense  only 
14  per  cent. 

The  Arroyo  Seco  branch  building,  a  gift 
of  Mr  Carnegie,  shows  a  California  nov- 
elty, the  outdoor  reading  room,  much  en- 
joyed during  almost  the  entire  year. 

The  Echo  Park  branch  is  housed  in  the 
Playground  Building.  Here  the  boys  and 
girls  como  in  from  playing  their  games, 
and  spend  a  quiet  hour  with  the  books. 
There  is  a  Public  Library  branch  at  each 
of  the  five  city  playgrounds. 


Madera    County    Free    Library. 

Miss   Maude   L.    Mast,    County   Libra- 
rian. 
Pictures : 

Branch  in  telephone  office 

Operator  is  custodian 

Every  call  answered 

Branch   in   hotel   annex 

Landlady   is   custodian 

Farm  adviser  adds  books 

to  his  advice  en  I'oute 
Madera  County 

County   seat,   Madera. 

Area,  2,140  square  miles. 

Population,  8,368   (in  1910). 

Asses.sed  valuation,  $15,7.54,791  (tax- 
able for  county,  $13,329,260). 

County  Free  Librarv  established  May 
3,  1910.  Appropriation,  1914-15,  $7,- 
797.45.     Branches  (Jan.  1,  1915)  33. 

Madera  County  Free  Library,  though 
less  than  five  years  old,  now  operates 
through  thirty-three  branches,  of  which 
nineteen  are  schools  and  fourteen  in  pri- 
vate homes,  in  stores  and  in  post  offices. 

The  newest  branch  in  length  of  time 
established  and  method  of  operation  is 
the  Farm  Adviser  Branch,  of  which  the 
Madera  County  farm  adviser  is  the 
custodian.  The  books  which  circulate 
through  this  branch  are  always  of  a  prac- 
tical nature  and  deal  with  agricultural 
and  related  subjects.  They  are  carried 
by  the  farm  adviser,  in  his  automobile, 
direct  to  the  farm  center  meetings  and 
often  to  the  homes  where  the  farmer  and 
his  family  make  their  selections  and  at 
the  same  time  consult  with  the  adviser 
on  farming  problems.  During  the  four 
montlis  this  branch  has  been  in  operation 
it  has  fully  proved  its  usefulness. 

Several  of  the  branches  will  undoubt- 
edly grow  into  eommunitj-  centers  with 
a  reading  room  open  during  definite  hours. 
The  towns  of  Chowchilla  and  Raymond 
will  probably  be  the  first  to  reach  this 
point.  The  Chowchilla  branch  has  the 
largest  monthly  circulation  and  is  situ- 
ated in  a  rapidly  developing  agricultural 
section.  Ra.ymond,  a  litlle  foothill  town, 
has  an  active  Woman's  Club  which  finds 
the  county  free  library  A^ery  useful,  and 
the  reports  fi'ora  this  branch  are  much 
more  gratifying  at  this  time  than  at 
the  same  time  a  year  ago. 


CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY   SERVICE. 


19 


Coarse  Gold,  another  mountain  branch, 
is  located  in  a  mining  section,  and  while 
it  has  a  small  number  of  borrowers,  its 
location  in  the  reading  room  of  the  hotel 
makes  it  an  ideal  center  around  which 
the  men  gather  toward  evening,  and  con- 
sequently is  one  of  the  most  promising 
branches,  for  the  hotel  proprietor  has 
under  way  a  number  of  improvements  to 
the  building  which  will  tend  to  make  it 
more  inviting. 

Merced  County  Free  Library. 

Miss   Winifred   ll.   Bigley,   County   Li- 
brarian. 
Pictures : 

Headquarters   in  rented   room 

of  business  block 

Branch  in  directors'  room 

of  bank 

Branch  in  storeroom 

of  business  block 

Xew  community 

with  library  books 

in  country  residence 

Branch  in  newspaper  office 

Editor  is   custodian 

Branch  in  bank  building 

Cashier  is  custodian 

"Hard  cash"  loaned  free 
Merced    County 

County   seat,   Merced. 

.\rea.    1,7^0  square   miles. 

I'opulation,   15,148    (in   3910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $25,576,932  (tax- 
able for  county,   $21,685,310). 

County  Free  Library  established  June 
(^  1910.  Work  started  August,  1910.  Ap- 
propriation. 1914-15.  $14.9<'N1.  Branches 
(.Tan.   1.   1915),   18. 

When  the  Merced  County  Free  Library 
started  operations  in  1910  there  was  only 
a  reading  room  in  the  Merced  Chamber 
of  Commerce  and  no  books  available  to 
the  people,  while  during  this  last  year 
the  book  circulation  through  the  branches 
of  the  county  free  library  was  82,331. 
F-vei"y  town  and  settlement  is  now  served. 
Merced  City,  Atwater,  Dos  Palos,  Gus- 
tine,  Invin,  Le  Grand,  Livingston,  Los 
Banos.  Snelling  and  Stevinson  have  pleas- 
ant reading  rooms  connected  with  their 
branches  where  a  number  of  popular 
magazines  are  to  be  found,  as  well  as  a 
continuous  supply  of  new  and  interesting 
books  of  all  kinds. 


Monterey  County  Free  Library. 

Miss  Anne  Hadden,  County  Librarian. 

Pictures  : 

Adobe  building,  site  of 
first   private   library   and 
in   1834  of  first  college 
in  California 
Old  building  in  which 
first  public  library 
was   housed 
in  1849 

Carmel-by-the-Sea 

famous    artist   author   colony 

keeps  in   touch 

with  the  world 

through  a  library  branch 

A  pack  horse  carries  books 

to  branches  over  the 

mountain  trails 

The  "flying  duck" 

novel  method  of  sending 

books  to  flood  bound  borrowers 

Monterey    County 

County  seat,   Salinas. 

Area,  3,450  square  miles. 

Population,   24,146    (in  1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $32,303,263  (tax- 
able  for  county,  $27,604,916). 

County  Free  Library  established  Aug. 
6,  1912.  Work  started  Sept.  1,  1913.  A])- 
propriatiou,  1914-15,  $7,539.82.  Branches 
(.Tan.  1.   1915)    16. 

The  Monterey  County  Free  Li!)rary  was 
started  on  September  1,  1913.  After 
overcoming  diflSculties  and  delays  in  find- 
ing and  fitting  out  headquarters,  the  first 
branch  was  established  at  Greenfield  in 
.Tanuary,  1914.  Now,  in  January,  1915, 
tlicrc*    are   sixteen    branches   in   opei'ation. 

Monterey  County  has  one  railroad  run- 
ning its  length.  Only  six  of  the  sixteen 
branches  are  on  the  railroad,  all  the 
others  are  reached  by  stage  or  convey- 
ance in  varying  distances  of  from  five  to 
forty  miles.  There  are  communities  on 
the  coast  which  can  only  be  reached  by 
trail  over  the  mountains,  and  all  freight 
has  to  bo  packed  in  on  horse,  mule,  or 
l)urro  back.  In  the  winter,  when  roads 
are  washed  out,  pack  horses  have  also 
(o  be  used  to  take  the  mail  to  two  of  the 
Itranchcs  which  ordinarily  arc  reached  by 
stage.  Last  year  floods  in  the  Salinas 
Valley  carried  away  many  of  the  bridges, 
and  where  ferries  were  impossible  a  cage 
and   cable   worked   by   pulleys   was  used 


20 


CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY  SERVICE. 


to  carry  freight  and  passengers  across  the 
river.  Still  in  operation  this  year,  where 
the  bridge  is  not  yet  replaced,  is  one  of 
these   "flying  ducks"   as   they   are  called. 

The  first  college  or  school  library  in 
California,  outside  of  the  Missions,  was 
located  about  six  miles  from  Salinas  at 
the  foot  of  the  Gabilan  Mountains.  This 
was  a  private  library  until  Jan.  1,  1834, 
when  W.  E.  P.  Hartnell  established  at 
his  own  home  the  first  college  in  Cali- 
fornia. 

Early  in  1849  the  first  public  library 
in  California  was  opened  in  the  old  Cuar- 
tel  building  at  Monterey  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  Rev.  S.  H.  Willey.  This 
library  was  afterwards  moved  to  Colton 
Hall. 

The  libraries  already  established  when 
the  Monterey  County  Free  Library  was 
started  were  the  public  libraries  at  Sa- 
linas, Pacific  Grove  and  Monterey,  and 
those  supported  by  subscription  at  Carmel 
and  Spreckels.  The  two  latter  are  now 
deposit  stations  of  the  county  library. 
King  City  has  recently  established  a  li- 
brary and  is  soon  to  have  the  benefit 
of  county  free  library  service. 

Monterey    Public    Library. 

Miss    Etta    Eckhardt,    Librarian. 
Picture : 

Summer  and  winter  books 
ready  at  the  library 
for  residents  and 
Hotel  del   Monte's  guests 

Pacific    Grove    Public    Library. 
Miss  Elizabeth  S.  Jones,  Librarian. 
Picture : 

Books  for  many 
Lover's  Point  for  a  few 
the  beach  for  all 

Riverside    County    Free    Library. 

Joseph  r.  Daniels,  County  Librarian. 
Pictures : 

Headquarters  of 
county  free  library 
showing   class    taking 
six   weeks'    library   course 

Bi'anch   in   post   office 
Pi isl master   custodian 
Many  foreigners   served 
P.ranch  library 
and  fire  department 
in  same  building 


Riverside  County 

County   seat,   Riverside. 

Area,  7,008  square  miles. 

Population,    34,696    (in    1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  .>34,0O5,577  (tax- 
able  for  county,   $27,189,460). 

County  Free  Library  established  Nov. 
8,  1911.  Appropriation,  1914-15,  $5,865. 
Branches    (Jan.  1,  1915),  45. 

The  Riverside  County  Free  Library 
lists  as  its  problems  : 

1.  Working  outward  from  well  estab- 
lished centers. 

2.  The  rural  schoolhouse  as  an  outly- 
ing library  center. 

3.  The  problem  of  the  Melting  Pot— 
a   mixture   of  races. 

4.  The  problem  of  training  for  library 
service. 

5.  The  problem  of  the  actual  erection 
of  outpost  library  buildings. 

6.  The  problem  of  actual  employment 
of  books  in  daily  occupations  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  region — usually  the  man  upon 
the  land  and  the  woman  in  his  home. 

7.  The  problem  of  wider  culture  in  the 
librarian. 

From  the  Riverside  Public  Library  as 
headquarters,  the  attempt  is  being  made 
to  work  out  these  problems.  The  library 
conducts  a  six  weeks'  course  for  libra- 
rians— usually  during  the  winter  months, 
and  loans  its  books  to  the  people  of  the 
county  through  the  branches  located  in 
public  libraries,  schools,  etc. 

The  Highgrove  Branch  is  an  example 
of  the  problem  of  serving  the  foreigner 
out  in  the  country,  and  the  Arlington 
Branch  is  an  example  of  a  town  branch 
which  is  really  a  center  for  the  many 
activities  and  interests  of  that  part  of 
the  town. 

Sacramento  County  Free  Library. 

Lauren  W.  Ripley,  County  Librarian. 
Picture  ; 

First   branch 
first  custodian 
first  borrowers  and 
first  county   free  library 

Sacramento  County 

County    s(^at,    Sacramento. 

Area,  988  square  miles. 

Population,    67,801)    (in    1910). 

Assessed  valuation  $92,285,557  (tax- 
able for  county,  $82,222,010). 


CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY   SERVICE. 


21 


County  Free  Library  established  Oct. 
1,  1908.  Appropriation,  1914-15,  $11,875. 
Branches    (Jan.   1,  1915),  180. 

The  Sacramento  County  Free  Library 
commenced  operations  Oct.  1,  1908,  under 
an  agreement  between  the  then  Board  of 
Directors  of  the  City  Library  and  the 
County  Board  of  Supervisors.  In  accord- 
ance with  the  terms  of  the  agreement,  the 
City  Library  was  opened  to  all  residents 
of  the  county  under  the  same  regulations 
as  city  residents,  and  the  library  under- 
took to  establish  agencies  throughout  the 
county  as  rapidly  as  funds  permitted. 
The  first  of  these  agencies  was  established 
at  Elk  Grove.  This  was  followed  by 
stations  at  other  of  the  more  populous 
sections  of  the  county,  preference  being 
given  to  localities  distant  from  the  city. 
These  stations  were  located  in  schools, 
general  stores,  post  offices  and  private 
homes.  As  the  library  grew  in  resources, 
reading  rooms,  in  rented  quarters,  with 
salaried  attendants,  were  opened  where 
it  seemed  probable  the  use  would  war- 
rant. On  the  first  of  the  year  the  library 
had  five  such  reading  rooms,  besides 
twenty-eight    public    deposit    stations. 

Work  with  the  schools  was,  from  the 
beginning,  given  a  large  place  in  the 
policy  of  the  library.  Early  in  1911  the 
library  began  supplying  classroom  libra- 
ries from  a  special  collection  built  up  for 
that  purpose.  Seventy-five  hundred  vol- 
umes are  set  apart  for  this  purpose,  about 
2,500  being  added  each  year.  The  class- 
room library  list  has  been  adopted  by  the 
County  Board  of  Education  as  the  ap- 
proved list  for  school  library  purchase. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  year,  176  class- 
room libraries,  located  in  61  school  build- 
ings, were  in  use.  Under  the  law  pro- 
viding for  such  action,  37  school  districts, 
including  the  Sacramento  City  school  dis- 
trict, have  made  arrangements  with  the 
library  for  library  service.  Through  these 
districts,  the  library  directly  reaches  about 
seven-eighths  of  the  teachers  and  pupils 
of  the  elementary  schools  of  the  county. 
Supplementary  as  well  as  general  read- 
ing is  supplied.  This  opportunity  to  exert 
an  active  influence  upon  the  reading  of 
the  schools  is  one  of  the  library's  most 
valued  assets. 

Through  the  central  library,  branches, 
deposit   stations   and   schools   the   library 


is  within  reaching  distance  of  95  per 
cent  of  county's  population.  To  sei*ve  the 
remainder,  additional  stations  will  be  es- 
tablished whenever  suitable  arrangements 
can  be  made,  or  service,  in  special  cases, 
can  be  had  directly  from  the  central  li- 
brary. 

San    Bernardino   County   Free   Library. 

Miss  Caroline   S.   Waters,  County  Li- 
brarian. 
Pictures : 

Branch  among  the  orange  groves 

Community  branch  in  schoolhouse 

Fine   schoolhouse,    fine   books 

fine  paid 

Branch  on  Mojave  desert 

Note  variety   of  people   served 
San  Bernardino  County 

County  seat,    San   Bernardino. 

Area,   20,055   square   miles. 

Population,   56,706    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $63,345,022  (tax- 
able  for   county,   $40,420,171). 

County  Free  Library  established  July 
14,  1913.  Work  started  Feb.  1,  1914.  Ap- 
propriation, 1914-15,  $9,306.80.  Branches 
(Jan.  1,  1915),  26. 

Being  the  largest  county  in  the  United 
States  and  with  an  area  as  large  as  five 
New  England  states  put  together,  it  is 
not  surprising  to  learn  that  three  of  the 
26  branches  are  250  miles  away  from  the 
central  library.  One  branch  at  Ludlow 
on  the  desert  about  150  miles  away  serves 
the  people  90  miles  north  just  across  the 
line  in  Inyo  County  at  Death  Valley 
Junction  and  Ryan. 

At  the  Del  Rosa  Branch  one  has  a  view 
of  the  San  Bernardino  Mountain,  snow- 
capped, with  the  orange  groves  in  the 
valley  below.  From  the  Etiwanda  Branch 
in  the  western  part  of  the  San  Bernar- 
dino Valley,  one  sees  a  beautiful  avenue 
with  orange  and  lemon  groves  on  both 
sides.  The  Victorville  Branch  on  the 
Mojave  desert  shows  what  the  county  free 
library  is  doing  for  the  homesteaders  and 
all  the  new  agricultural  colonies  on  the 
desert ;  also  for  the  ranchers  and  miners 
— farming  and  mining  being  the  principal 
industries.  At  Victorville  one  sees  the 
Victorville  Narrows  with  the  Mojave 
River  and  Mt.  San  Bernardino  in  the  dis- 
tance. 


22 


CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY   SERVICE. 


San    Diego  County  Free   Library. 

Miss   Jeunie    Ilorrman,    County    Libra- 
rian. 
Pictures : 

Branch  in  office 

of  lumber  company 

Some  lumber  and 

all   books   "red" 

Progress  of  a  branch 

First  housed  in  drug  store 

now  in  building  erected  by 

county  and  community 

Branch  in   Woman's   Club   house 

Old  church  used 

as  community  club  house 

and  branch  library 
San  Diego   County 

County  seat,  San  Diego. 

Area.  4,207  square  miles. 

Population,   61,6G5    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $75,866,729  (tax- 
able  for  county,   $69,283,571). 

County  Free  Library  established  yipril 
5,  1912.  Work  started  Feb.  15,  1913.  Ap- 
propriation, 1914-1.5,  $10,817.33.  Branches 
(Jan.  1,   1915),   34. 

The  enthusiastic  appreciation  of  the 
county  free  library  service  that  is  ex- 
pressed in  every  part  of  the  county  not 
only  advertises  the  vv^ork  and  creates  a 
further  demand,  but  makes  the  filling  of 
the  requests  a  real  pleasure.  An  engineer 
of  the  highway  who  was  marooned  dur- 
ing January  on  account  of  the  unusual 
rains  said  he  was  saved  from  desperation 
during  his  enforced  retirement  from  work 
on  the  roads  by  the  library  service  thi'ough 
the  branch  at  Cardi£f-by-the-Sea.  The 
debaters  from  the  Cuyamaca  Union  High 
School  at  Julian  reported  that  their  win- 
ning the  silver  cup  in  the  county  debat- 
ing league  was  largely  due  to  the  material 
they  had  had  from  the  county  free  li- 
brary. The  La  Mesa  people  continue  to 
be  proud  of  their  club  house  and  library 
which  the  women  feel  was  only  possible 
on  account  of  the  county  free  library 
movement.  Similar  enthusiasm  exists  in 
every  part  of  the  county. 

So  the  requests  and  circulation  are 
growing  dailj- — far  faster  than  the  funds 
with  which  to  give  the  service,  but  what 
California  people  want  and  enjoy  they 
are  very  willing  to  pay  for  and  funds 
grow  each  year  in  an  effort  to  keep  up 
with   the  growth  in  library  needs. 


San     Francisco     Mechanics'    Mercantile 
Library. 

Francis   B.    Gi'aves,   Librarian. 

Pictures  : 

Mechanics'  Mercantile 

library  serves  thousands 

In  its  famous  chessroom. 

The  Mechanics'  Mercantile  Library  in 
San  Francisco  was  estalilished  in  1850. 
In  the  fire  of  April,  1906,  it  was  de- 
stroyed, the  loss  being  about  200,000  vol- 
umes. It  was  immediately  re-established 
and  already  has  over  50,000  volumes  and 
serves  about  3,500  members. 

Supported  by  membership  fees,  it  is 
the  largest  subscription  library  in  the 
state. 

San  Joaquin   County   Free   Library. 

W.  F.  Clowdsley,  County  Librarian. 
San  Joaquin  County 

County  seat,  Stockton. 

Area,  1,370  square  miles. 

Population,   50,731    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation.  $66,368,904  (tax- 
able for  county,  $56,875,902). 

County  Free  Library  established  March 
7,  1910.  Appropriation,  1914-15,  $10,000. 
Branches   (Jan.  1,  1915),  28. 

With  products  and  industries  extend- 
ing in  every  direction,  San  Joaquin 
County  people  have  needed  books  and 
other  material   on  every  sort  of  subject. 

Even  in  the  first  fifteen  months  of  the 
county  free  library  service  the  circula- 
tion of  books  was  50,676.  It  has  in- 
creased each  year  until  the  total  for  the 
year  1914  was  67,279. 

San   Mateo  County   Free  Library. 

San  Mateo  County 

County  seat.  Redwood  City. 

Area,   470  square  miles. 

Population,   26,585    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $32,465,471  (tax- 
able for  county,  .$30,32.5,475). 

County  Free  Library  established  Sept. 
5,  1912.  No  appropriation  made  as  yet 
and  s"o  library  has  not  been  started. 

Santa     Barbara    County    Free     Library. 

Mrs.  Frances  Burns  Linn,   County  Li- 
brarian. 
Pictures    (slides)  : 

Books    and    workmen    on    way 
to    Gibraltar    Dam    branch 


CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY   SERVICE. 


23 


The  camp   at   Gibraltar  Dam 

Books  leaving 

Sauta  Barbara  post  office 

for   Cuyama   branch    (250   miles) 

Ou   the  long  road  to  Cuyama 

The  opening  of  the  package  at  Cuyama 

Oil   wells   in   ocean   where 

some    branch    borrowers    work 

Pier  and  pipe  line  at  an 

oil  refinery.    Crews  of  company's 

tankers  are  patrons  of 

branch   library 

An  oil  barque  sailing 

for  Honolulu  carries 

county   free   library   books 

for  the  40-day  cruise 
Santa  Barbara  County 

County   seat,   Santa  Barbara. 

Area,  2,450  square  miles. 

Population,   27,738    (in  1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $34,496,827  (tax- 
able for  county,  $29,157,186). 

County  I'ree  Library  established  Feb. 
16,  1910.  Appropriation,  1914-15,  $8,- 
289.01.    Branches   (Jan.  1,  1915),  41. 

Santa  Barbara  was  the  first  county  to 
take  up  county  free  library  work  under 
the  law  passed  in  1909.  In  1910  it  began 
with  10  branches,  and  now  administers 
41.  The  circulation  of  books  during  the 
past  year  has  been  1.50,000  volumes. 

This  is  not  one  of  the  largest  counties 
of  California,  but  its  area  is  sufficient, 
being  little  less  than  that  of  the  state  of 
Connecticut.  Nearly  half  of  the  people 
live  in  the  city  of  Santa  Barbara.  But, 
with  the  exception  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Santa  Maria  and  Lompoc,  the  rest  are  to 
be  found  in  very  small  communities,  in 
some  cases  remote  and  hard  to  reach. 
There  are  construction  camps  and  oil 
leases  and  little  groups  of  homesteaders 
far  away  from  the  ordinary  lines  of 
travel  that  must  not  be  left  out  of  any 
plan  for  getting  books  to  all  the  people 
who  w^ant  books  and  can  make  good  use 
of  them.  It  is  not  easy  to  supply  these 
needs,  but  the  problem  is  none  the  less 
interesting,  on  that  account,  and  when 
it  has  been  worked  out  the  satisfaction 
is  great. 

At  Gibraltar  Construction  Camp,  at 
the  north  portal  of  the  water  tunnel  which 
the  city  of  Santa  Barbara  has  bored 
through  the  mountains,  men  have  been 
at  work  upon  the  construction  of  a  dam 


and  reservoir  for  impounding  the  flood 
waters  of  the  Sauta  Ynez  River.  Thoir 
camp  has  been  made  a  branch,  and  thj 
books  have  to  go  and  come  as  the  men 
do,  through  four  miles  of  a  5  by  7  foot 
hole  in  the  mountains.  Before  "the  train 
starts"  from  the  head  of  Mission  Canyon 
the  book  package  is  carefully  wrapi)ed  to 
protect  it  from  water-drip  and  flying 
sparks.  It  is  given  the  place  of  honor  at 
the  front  end  of  the  car,  and  the  "pas- 
sengers" have  to  divide  up  as  well  as 
they  can  what  little  room  there  is  left. 
Naturally,  at  such  a  branch  as  this,  there 
is  considerable  demand  for  something  be- 
sides "light  reading,"  and  many  books  on 
engineering  and  nature  study  have  been 
sent  out. 

Distribution  of  books  to  the  branches 
east,  west  and  northwest  is  a  compara- 
tively easy  matter.  In  most  cases  it  is 
only  necessary  to  follow  lines  of  railroad 
that  lie  within  the  county,  and  it  is  not 
difficult  to  reach  by  stage  those  places 
which  lie  away  from  the  railroad.  But 
when  it  comes  to  the  thinly  settled  moun- 
tain region  of  the  northeast,  that  is  a 
different  problem.  If  packages  of  books 
could  only  be  sent  "as  the  crow  flies" 
the  distance  would  not  be  over  seventy 
miles.  But  nothing  in  the  way  of  a 
"crow  carrier  service"  has  yet  been  de- 
vised, and,  therefore,  these  have  to  go 
by  parcel  post  east  and  south  and  north 
and  then  southwest,  via  Santa  Barbara, 
Ventura.  Los  Angeles  and  Kern  counties, 
about  200  miles,  in  order  to  reach  Mari- 
copa, from  which  point  they  have  still 
more  than  forty  miles  of  stage  journey 
to  reach  the  little  settlements  of  Wasioja 
and  Cuyama.  There  are  times  in  winter 
when,  for  a  few  hours,  the  road  up  into 
thFsi'  mountain  valleys  looks  quite  Siber- 
ian, and  certainly  no  Siberian  exiles  could 
be  more  eager  over  "good  news  from  a 
far  country"  than  are  these  readers  when 
they  gather  around  a  fresh  package  of 
books — for  they  are  booklovers,  some  of 
them  coming  anywhere  from  four  to  fif- 
teen miles  in  order  to  avail  themselves  of 
county   free   library   privileges. 

Once  upon  a  time  a  bright  woman  wrote 
to  the  Santa  Barbara  library  to  inquire 
if  there  was  any  way  to  get  the  use  of 
books  at  the  desert  place  where  she  was 
living.  "We  have  nothing  here  now," 
she  wrote,  "but  oil  and  stars."    There  are 


24 


CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY   SERVICE. 


many  places  in  Santa  Barbara  County 
where  this  was  almost  literally  true  until 
the  county  free  library  began  its  work. 
It  was  not  true  at  Summerland,  where 
there  has  been  a  considerable  community 
for  a  long  time,  and  where  there  is  abund- 
ance of  ocean  along  with  the  oil  and  the 
stars.  But  the  flourishing  county  branch 
which  has  been  established  there  shows 
what  an  added  community  interest  books 
and  magazines  are ;  and  the  branch  at 
Gaviota  has  as  patrons  the  crews  of  the 
company's  oil  ships.  They  borrow  books 
for  the  40  days'  trip  to  Honolulu  and 
back. 

Santa    Clara    County   Free   Library. 

Miss    Stella    Huntington,    County    Li- 
brarian. 
Pictures : 

Billy,  youngest  borrower 

Branch  in  realty  office 

"AVatch  us  grow" 

Branch  at  Lick  Observatory 

on  Mt.  Hamilton 

Books  come  high 

but  they  must   have   them ! 
Santa  Clara  County 

County  seat,   San  Jose. 

Area,  1,355  square  miles. 

Population,   83,530    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $81,006,331  (tax- 
able for  county,  $72,077,380). 

County  Free  Library  established  July 
20.  1912.  Work  started  July  1, 1914.  Ap- 
propriation, 1914-15,  $5,700.  Branches 
(Jan.   1,   1915),   16. 

The  Santa  Clara  County  Free  Library 
is  only  six  months  old,  but  it  has  16 
branches  and  has  circulated  in  the  six 
months  nearly  14,000  books.  As  there 
were  only  2,429  books  at  the  end  of  the 
six  months  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the 
books  are  kept  busy  and  also  that  the 
assistance  of  the  State  Library  has  been 
found  to  be  invaluable  in  filling  requests. 

The  number  of  books  at  the  branches 
range  from  106  to  397.  At  least  50  books 
are  changed  every  three  months,  but  no 
book  is  returned  to  the  main  library  until 
the  custodian  finds  that  her  people  have 
finished  it.  If  the  custodian  finds  that 
there  are  not  enough  books  in  the  library 
more  are  sent  at  any  time.  There  are 
no  fixed  collections  of  books ;  the  books 
are  selected  to  fit  the  individual  needs  of 
the   people   at   each   branch.      As   to    the 


special  request  books  their  name  is  legion  ; 
the  requests  come  in  from  men,  women 
and  children  and  on  many  subjects ;  a 
high  school  boy  who  wants  to  study  bee 
culture  during  vacation ;  a  play  for  a  club 
to  give ;  how  to  make  candy ;  books  on 
"new  thought"  ;  how  to  make  tatting,  etc. 
The  branch  at  Los  Altos  is  our  first 
branch  and  is  a  good  "sample  branch." 
The  branch  at  Mt.  Hamilton  has  given 
perhaps  as  much  pleasure  as  any  of  the 
branches.  The  people  on  the  mountain 
top  form  a  little  community  by  them- 
selves and  the  library,  "with  all  the  books 
we  have  been  reading  reviews  about,"  is 
greatly  appreciated. 

Solano    County    Free    Library. 

Miss  Clara  B.  Dills,  County  Librarian. 
Picture : 

Headquarters  in 

new  high  school  building 

used  also  as  branch 

for  school  and  town. 
Solano   County 

County  seat,   Fairfield. 

Area,   911   square   miles. 

Population,   27,559    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $26,361,990  (tax- 
able   for   county,    $23,066,631). 

County  Free  Library  established  April 
6.1914.  Work  started  August  1,1914.  Ap- 
propriation, 1914-15,  $5,515.33.  Branches 
(Jan.  1,  1915),  24. 

The  Solano  County  Free  Library 
started  with  blotters,  pens  and  ink.  The 
county  seat,  Fairfield,  had  never  main- 
tained a  public  library  so  that  one  of  the 
first  branches  to  be  started  was  to  give 
service  to  it.  The  circulation  of  the 
branch  started  with  a  daily  average  of 
eight  and  now  the  books  borrowed  per 
day  figure  from  90  to  110  volumes.  Great 
interest  and  appreciation  is  shown  by 
the  people  of  this  communitj'.  The  same 
is  true  of  the  second  branch  which  was 
opened  at  Rio  Vista,  a  town  down  on  the 
Sacramento  River.  And  so  branches  are 
added  one  by  one.  The  town  of  Cement, 
whose  name  characteristically  implies  the 
reason  for  its  existence,  has  just  had  a 
branch  placed  in  its  hotel.  Chemists  and 
workers  in  the  quarries  and  factory  are 
already  asking  for  technical  books. 

A  big  county  with  many  library  needs 
is  enthusiastically  receiving  the  begin- 
nings  of  what  promises  with  more  time 


CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY   SERVICE. 


25 


and   income   to   be   one   of   its   most   ap- 
preciated and  successful  institutions. 

Stanislaus  County   Free  Library. 

Miss  Cornelia  D.  Provines,  County  Li- 
brarian. 
Pictures : 

Branch  in  private  residence 

Former   custodian 

state  traveling  library 

now  county  branch  custodian 

Booifs  housed   in  paint  shop 

Painter  is  custodian 

Branch  in  church  basement 

always  open   for  reading 

and  games 

County  storekeeper 

on  his  regular  rounds 

delivers  books  "a  la  cart" 

Headquarters  of  Stanislaus 

County   Free   Library 
Stanislaus   County 

County  seat,  Modesto. 

Area,  3,486  square  miles. 

Population,   22,522    (in   1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $31,843,480  (tax- 
able for  county,  $27,815,555). 

County  Free  Library  established  Aug. 
14,  1911.  Work  started  Jan.  2,  1912.  Ap- 
propriation. 1914-15,  $11,200.  Branches 
(.Tan.  1,  1915),  2l. 

The  Stanislaus  County  Free  Library 
began  work  upon  the  second  day  of  Janu- 
ary, 1912.  The  Modesto  Public  Library 
was  at  that  time  established  in  three 
small  rooms  in  the  Belleview  Building 
on  I  street,  in  Modesto.  Immediately 
upon  the  establishment  of  the  county 
free  library,  Modesto  become  a  part  of 
the  county  free  library  system.  In 
April  of  1912,  the  library  building  which 
was  the  bequest  of  Mr.  Oramil  McHenry 
to  the  city  of  Modesto,  was  completed  and 
the  two  libraries  were  moved  into  it.  The 
name  of  the  Modesto  Public  Library  was 
changed  to  the  McHenry  Public  Library, 
and  since  that  time  the  work  of  the  two 
libraries  has  gone  forward  simultaneously, 
under  the  direction  of  one  librarian. 

On  January  1,  1912,  there  were  no 
branch  libraries  in  the  county,  and  the 
total  number  of  registered  cardholders 
was  1,004,  while  the  circulation  for  the 
year  of  1912  was  28,718  books,  the  num- 
ber of  volumes  in  library  being  2,401.  On 
January    1,    1915,    the    branches    in    the 


county  numbered  21,  with  the  number  of 
registered  cardholders  as  6,263,  while  the 
circulation  for  the  year  1914  was  99,114 
books,  with  15,721  volumes  available  for 
circulation. 

Branches  in  the  county  are  established 
in  various  places  :  in  stores,  schoolhouses, 
a  post  office,  private  homes ;  one  in  a 
bank  building  and  one  in  the  basement 
of  a  church  ;  one  in  the  county  jail  and 
one  in  the  rooms  of  the  Modesto  Coffee 
Club.  Ten  of  the  branches  have  reading 
rooms,  some  of  which  are  open  all  day 
and  evening,  and  some  only  at  stated 
hours  daily.  Eleven  branches  are  de- 
posit stations  only,  but  all  are  provided 
with  periodicals,  both  for  reading  and 
for  circulation. 

Tulare    County    Free    Library. 

Mrs  Bessie  Herrman  Twaddle,  County 
Librarian. 
Pictures : 

A    branch    building   erected 

by  community 

A  negro  settlement  served 

by  county  free  library 

Building  gift  of  individual 

Armenian  colony  at  Yettem 

receives  library  service 
Tulare  County 

County  seat,  Visalia. 

Area,  4,863  square  miles. 

Population,  35,440   (in  1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $48,840,347  (tax- 
able for  county,  $40,857,785). 

County  Free  Library  established  June 
10,  1910.  Appropriation,  1915-16,  $15,- 
718.89.     Branches    (Jan.  1,  1915),  95. 

It  is  not  quite  five  years  since  the 
Tulare  County  Free  Library  was  estab- 
lished with  an  appropriation  of  $4,uuu. 
The  sum  has  been  gradually  increased 
until  for  the  year  of  1914-1915  the  in- 
come  is   nearly   four  times   that   amount. 

More  than  a  third  of  the  population  of 
the  county  have  availed  themselves  of 
the  county  free  library  service,  and  the 
registered  cardholders  read  in  1914  over 
115,000  volumes,  an  average  of  more  than 
15  volumes  for  each  reader. 

Regular  shipments  of  fifty  volumes  are 
sent  quarterly  to  each  branch,  in  addition 
to  the  books  which  are  sent  by  mail  or 
express  at  special  request  whenever  books 
are    needed    for    study    or    reference    by 


2(j 


CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY    SERVICE. 


stliools,  clubs  or  individual  readers.  Dur- 
ing 1!)14  over  15,0'UO  volumes  were  shipped 
to  the  branches,  4,000  of  which  were 
in  response  to  special  requests,  and  HOO 
wex'e  from  the  State  Library  at  Sacra- 
mento. 

The  moving  pictures  at  the  Expositions 
show  the  library  branch  at  Yettem,  the 
Armenian  colony  of  the  county,  where  the 
readers  are  interested  in  acquiring  Eng- 
lish, acquainting  themselves  with  Ameri- 
can customs,  and  in  reading  about  agri- 
cultural methods.  They  have  read  a 
great  deal  of  American  history  and  most 
of  the  English  and  American  classics. 

The  picture  of  the  branch  at  Aliens- 
worth,  the  negro  settlement,  shows  the  li- 
brary which  is  the  pride  of  the  commu- 
nity. The  readers  here  are  interested  in 
various  subjects  and  always  request  read- 
ing matter  of  a  high  order,  books  on 
agriculture,  economics,  philosophy,  his- 
tory, etc.,  but  they  are  especially  inter- 
ested in  books  which  deal  with  the  prob- 
lems of  their  race. 

Recently  a  shipment  of  books  was  sent 
to  the  Tule  Ri>er  Indian  Reservation. 
The  collection  was  made  up  of  books 
which  would  be  helpful  to  the  teachers, 
and  suitable  for  the  Indian  children. 

Wherever  one  may  live  in  Tulare 
County,  in  orange  district  or  dairy  region, 
in  the  mountains  or  on  tlie  plains,  he  may 
have  library  advantages  through  the 
branches  of  the  Tulare  County  Free  Li- 
brary. 

Ventura    County    Free    Library. 

County  seat,  Ventura. 

Area,  1,850  square  miles. 

Ropulation,  18,347   (in  1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $30,973,620  (tax- 
able  for  county,   ,$27,378,039). 

County  Free  Library  established  April 
9.  1915.  Provision  for  its  support  will  be 
made  in  the  September  tax  levy. 

Yolo    County    Free    Library. 

Mrs  .Tulia  G.  Babcock,   County  Libra- 
rian. 
I'ietures : 

Headquarters  and 
first  automobile  used  in 
county  free  library  work 
Superintendent    of    schools 
cooperates  with 
couutv  librarian 


State   University  Farm   uses 

county   free   library 

Krauch  in   barber  shop 

gives  service 

to  big  and  little  shavers 

Service   to  town   school 

Expressman    arrives   with 

books 

Service  in  country  school 

Cliildreu  take  books  home 

for    whole    family 

County  librarian  and 

county   superintendent 

of  schools 

visit   Indian  school  branch 

Yolo    County 

County  seat.   Woodland. 

Area,  1,017  square  miles. 

Population,  13,92G   (in  1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $24,621,051  (tax- 
able   for   county,    $21,235,581). 

County  Free  Library  established  July 
12,  1910.  Appropriation,  191.5-16,  $8^ 
09().98.     Branches   (.Tan.  1.  1915),  57. 

The  Y'^olo  County  Free  Library  is  prom- 
inent in  county  free  library  activities  be- 
cause of  the  work  with  the  schools  which 
has  developed  largely  through  the  co- 
operation between  the  superintendent  of 
schools  of  Yolo  County  and  the  librarian 
of  the  county  free  library,  who  have 
traveled  hundreds  of  miles  together  in  the 
macliine  belonging  to  the  superintendent. 

To  the  schools  the  library  supplies 
books  for  supplementary  reading  as  w'ell 
as  a  general  collection  of  books  for  the 
home  reading  of  the  pupils  and  for  the 
use  of  the  adults  in  the  school  district. 
Special  requests  are  supplied  as  promptly 
as  possible  either  from  the  shelves  of 
the  county  library  or  from  the  State  Li- 
brary. Fillmore  school  is  a  typical  one- 
room  country  school  and  tlie  children  are 
shown  going  home  with  their  books.  At 
Davis  University  Farm  a  branch  is  main- 
tained in  connection  with  the  library  of 
the  farm.  This  collection  of  books  con- 
sists largely  of  books  for  recreational 
reading,  as  the  University  supplies  most 
of  the  needs  for  study  purposes.  The 
Winters  school  is  a  type  of  the  larger 
school  in  tlie  county  where  a  collection  of 
several  hundred  books  is  maintained  for 
the  use  of  teachers  and  pupils.  As  there 
is  a  community  branch  at  Winters,  books 


CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY   SERVICE. 


27 


for  the  parents  are  not  iucluded  in  the 
number. 

At  Madison  the  branch  library  and 
reading  room  is  pleasantly  housed  in  a 
room  devoted  to  the  purpose  connected 
with  the  residence  and  shop  of  the  cus- 
todian. 

The  branch  at  the  Guinda  Indian 
school  has  recently  been  opened  for  the 
use  of  the  teachers  and  the  Indian  pupils, 
who  spend  the  forenoon  in  manual  or 
domestic  work  and  the  afternoon  in  study 
of  books. 

For  some  of  the  larger  schools  re- 
questing it,  magazines,  such  as  St.  Nich- 
ola.s.  Youths'  Companion,  National  Geo- 
graphic Magazine,  or  Popular  Mechanics, 
are  subscribed  for  by  the  county  free 
library. 

Four  of  the  branches  have  reading 
rooms  with  a  good  supply  of  periodicals, 
and  it  is  hoped  to  extend  this  work  as 
rapidly  as  funds  will  permit. 

California    State    Library. 
J.   L.   Gillis,   Librarian. 
Picture : 

Capitol  at   Sacramento 

California   State   Library 

occupies   30  per   cent 

of  floor  space 

People  of  California 

voted  $3,000  000  bonds 

for  office  and  library  buildings 

City    Sacramento   donated   site 

two   blocks   facing   capitol 

State  Library  supplements 

other  library  service  free 


Through  about  800  libraries 
and   1,200  branch   libraries 
reaches   every   resident 
in  every  part 
of  the  state 

California 

Area,  158,297  square  miles. 

Second  in  size  among  the  states. 

Population,  2,377,549    (in  1910). 

Assessed  valuation,  $8,134,811,284  (for 
1914-15). 

Number  of  counties,  58. 

The  California  State  Library  was  es- 
tablished January  24,  1850.  Appropria- 
tion for  1914-15,  $98,000.  Total  acces- 
sion (Jan.  1,  1915),  170,431,  exclusive  of 
4,254  books  for  the  blind  and  of  about 
125,000  volumes  in  the  Sutro  collection 
in   San   Francisco. 

The  California  State  Library  School 
was  established  September  4,  1913.  This 
has  no  separate  appropriation,  but  is  sup- 
ported entirely  out  of  the  State  Library 
fund. 

The  Library  and  Library  School  are 
both  located  in  the  Capitol  at  Sacramento. 

For  further  information  about  Califor- 
nia Library  service,  or  for  any  of  the 
circulars  listed  below,  write  to  State  Li- 
brary, Sacramento,  California. 

Three  circulars  that  may  be  had  on 
request : 

California  County  Free  Libraries  :  Two 
questions  often  asked,   5th  ed.  1915. 

California  County  Free  Library  Ser- 
vice to  Schools,  1915. 

Circular  and  Announcement  of  the  Cali- 
fornia State  Library  School,  1915-16. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 

OtC  2  6  I960 

DFP.  1  5  1972 

MAR23r:i73 

APR  9  A  2003 

r\r  i\  £i  *±,  tuvw 

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